JUDGMENT :

SANDEEP SHARMA, J.

1. Instant appeal filed under Section 374 (2) of the Cr.P.C. lays challenge to the judgment passed by Learned Special Judge (II) (Additional Session Judge), Kullu, H.P. whereby the appellants-accused (hereinafter referred to as “the accused”) came to be convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for seven years and to pay fine of Rs. 70,000/- and in default of payment of fine, to further undergo simple imprisonment for one year, for having committed offences punishable under Sections 20, 25 and 29 of NDPS Act (herein after referred to as “the Act”).

2. Precisely, story of the prosecution, as emerge from the record, is that on 9.11.2014, at 7:00 pm, police party consisted of PW-12 HC Deepak Kumar, PW-11 Constable Naveen Kumar and HHC Lal Singh of Police Post Jari, was present at a distance of 10 meters in front of Police Post, Dunkhara, Jari District Kullu on Bhuntar-Manikaran road. Police party stopped one scooter bearing Registration No. PB-07H-7372 coming from Manikaran side being driven by accused No. 1 namely Gurwinder Singh. On the askance of police, accused disclosed their names to be Gurvinder Singh and Kuldeep Singh. PW-12 HC Deepak Kumar asked the accused to produce the documents of the scooter, who in turn, opened the dickey of the scooter, underneath the handle in front, where one yellow coloured cloth bundle was found kept there. Accused were asked to get the bundle checked, but they started making excuses to get the bundle searched. Investigating Officer PW-12 HC Deepak Kumar asked the PW-11 Constable Naveen Kumar to bring the independent witnesses. PW-11 Constable Naveen Kumar on the askance of PW-12 HC Deepak Kumar brought PW-9 Dhale Ram, who at that relevant time, was working as security guard in MPCL. PW-12 HC Deepak Kumar after having associated PW-9 Dhale Ram and PW-11 Constable Naveen Kumar as witnesses gave their personal search to the accused, but nothing incriminating was found in their possession, regarding which memo Ext.PW-9/A was prepared and signed by the witnesses as well as accused persons. On opening the said bundle, seven chappad of black coloured substance wrapped with transparent polythene were found. PW-12 HC Deepak Kumar, I.O. prepared the identification memo Ext.PW-9/C at police post Jari, which was situate at the distance of 10 meters from the spot. I.O. alongwith recovered substance, scooter of the accused persons and witnesses came to Police Post Jari, where ASI Dharam Chand was also associated in the investigation. On weighing, the recovered substance was found to be 722 grams. Recovered charas was again put in the said yellow cloth and put inside the cloth parcel, which was sealed with six seals of seal impressions “T.” Polythene wrappers were also sealed in a separate cloth parcel and sample seal of seal “T” was separately obtained on piece of cloth Ext.PW-9/E. PW-12 HC Deepak Kumar filled NCB-I form in triplicate Ext.PW-1/A and sample seal was also taken on the same, which was handed to PW-9 Dhale Ram, vide memo Ext.PW-9/G. RC of the scooter Ext.PW-11/B and DL Ext.PW-11/C were also taken into custody by the police. As per RC of the vehicle, person namely Tilak Raj of Chandigarh was found to be the original owner of the said scooter. The recovered substance/charas, alongwith RC of the scooter, DL and scooter alongwith keys were taken into possession vide seizure memo Ext.PW-9/B in the presence of the witnesses. PW-9 Dhale Ram and PW-11 Constable Naveen Kumar put their signatures on the seizure memo Ext.PW-9/B. During investigation, it was found that the accused persons had purchased the said charas from one Nepali National at Kasol. PW-12 HC Deepak Kumar, I.O. prepared ruqua Ext.PW-12/A and handed over the same to PW-11 Constable Naveen Kumar with the directions to take the same to PS Kullu for registration of the case, on the basis of which, FIR Ext.PW-6/A came to be registered at the PS Kullu. On 9.11.2014, PW-6 Inspector Neel Chand after hav