Dharam Chand Chaudhary, J.

Appellant (hereinafter referred to as the ‘accused’) herein is a convict. He has been tried for the commission of an offence punishable under Section 20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as ‘NDPS Act’ in short) with the allegations that when on suspicion his search was conducted on 19.11.2015 around 11.40 p.m. near parking of Samiti Guest House, Anni, District Kullu, charas weighing 1.700 Kg. was recovered from his exclusive and conscious possession. On finding the charge framed against him proved in view of the evidence produced during the course of trial, he has been convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and to pay Rs.1,00,000/- as fine vide impugned judgment dated 19.06.2017 passed by learned Special Judge, Kinnaur at Rampur Bushehar in Sessions Trial No.4-R/3 of 2014/16.

2. On 19.11.2015, PW-6 Inspector/SHO Santosh Kumar accompanied by other police officials namely, HHC Chande Ram, Constable Vipin Kumar and HC Mohan Joshi was on routine patrol in Anni bazar. Rapat Ext. P-Y was entered in daily diary in this regard. Around 10.40 p.m. when police party reached nea