1. - This criminal appeal by accused-appellant Bhaiyan @ Shiv Murti arises out of the judgment and order dated 20.11.1999 passed by the Special Judge, NDPS Cases (Additional Sessions Judge), Ramganjmandi, Kota, whereby the learned Special Judge has found the accused-appellant guilty of having committed offence under Section 8/18 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (hereinafter to be referred as "the Act") and accordingly, convicted him for the said offence and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years with a fine of Rs. one lac, in default thereof, to further undergo simple imprisonment for two years.

2. The facts relevant for the purpose of disposal of this appeal may be summarised as under:-

PW5 Jodha Ram, SHO, Police Station, Modak received information from one Vinay Kumar, an accused in police custody in a case under the Narcotic Drugs And Psychotropic Substances Act, to the effect that he had purchased opium recovered from him from Bhaiyan @ Shiv Murti (appellant herein), resident of village Modak and for that purpose he had given him a half gold biscuit. The SHO recorded this information in the Rojnamcha and sent copies thereof to the higher officials. Thereafter, the SHO along with police party left for the house of appellant and reached there. The appellant came out of the house and introduced himself to be police personnel. Before proceeding to search the house of the appellant, the SHO informed the appellant of his legal right to have the search of his house conducted either in the presence of a Magistrate or in the presence of a Gazetted Officer. The appellant, in turn, consented for search to be conducted by the SHO.
3-4. In the course of search of the house of appellant, a gold biscuit weighing 57.5 grams was recovered from a box lying in the house. On searching verandah of the house, on the right corner, a heap of cow dung cake was found lying. Behind the heap, a manual weighing scale was found lying and next to it a yellow coloured polythene bag was also found. On opening the same, it was found to be contained with opium weighing 2 Kgs. The SHO then took two samples of 50 grams each and sealed the samples and remaining opium in separate packets. Search and seizure memo Ex.P.6 was prepared and a case vide FIR Ex.P12 was registered under Section 8/18 of the Act and the accused was arrested.5. Having completed entire formalities as to the investigation, a charge-sheet was submitted against the appellant. The learned trial Judge, on the basis of evidence and material collected during investigation and placed before it, framed charge against the appellant under Section 8/18 of the Act. The appellants denied the charge and claimed trial.6. In order to prove its case, the prosecution examined as many as 8 witnesses and also exhibited some documents. After the prosecution evidence was over, the appellant was examined under Section 313 Criminal Procedure Code In his explanation, the appellant stated that on the day of incident, the police personnel visited his house in his absence and after the alleged search, the police party took with them his daughter Mst. Durga Bai. He came to know of the incident only after he returned home and thereafter he went to the police station and was arrested. The appellant in his defence, examined DW1 Devi Lal, DW2 Durga Bai and DW3 Ramkesh.7. At the conclusion of trial, the learned Special Judge found the prosecution case as alleged, proved and accordingly convicted and sentenced the appellants as aforementioned. Hence, the present appeal against conviction.8. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the judgment under appeal and the evidence and material on record.9. In assailing the conviction, the first argument advanced by Mr. Bajwa, learned counsel for the appellant is that the prosecution has utterly failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the samples taken by the SHO remained intact right from the time of its seizure