The prosecution must establish the integrity of the case property and the chain of custody; failure to do so results in reasonable doubt and necessitates acquittal.

JUDGMENT :

Rakesh Kainthla, J.

The present appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 18.03.2024 passed by learned Special Judge, Sundernagar, District Mandi, H.P. (learned Trial Court) vide which the appellant (accused before learned Trial Court) was convicted of the commission of an offence punishable under Section 21 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (in short ‘NDPS Act’) and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for four years, pay a fine of Rs.40,000/- and, in default of payment of the fine, to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for four months. (Parties shall hereinafter be referred to in the same manner as they were arrayed before the learned Trial Court for convenience.)

2. Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present appeal are that the police presented a challan against the accused for the commission of an offence punishable under Section 21 of the NDPS Act. It was asserted that HC Sarang Sharma (PW-12), HC Samad (PW-9), and Constable Sandeep Rana were on patrolling duty at Salappar Bridge on 13.04.2023. An entry No.6 (Ext.P13/PW7) was recorded regarding their departure. A bus bearing registration No. CH01-GA-9975 came from Bilaspur toward Mandi at 1:00 a.m. The police stopped the bus for inspection. The driver of the bus revealed his name as Anil Kumar (PW-10), and the conductor identified himself as Jagsir Singh. The police checked the passengers of the bus in their presence. The accused occupied seat No. 9 and had a backpack with him. The police questioned the accused about the backpack, which frightened him. The police became suspicious and enquired about the name of the accused in the presence of the driver, conductor, and HC Samad (PW-9). The accused identified himself as Rinku Tamang. The police gave their personal search to the accused, and nothing incriminating was found in their possession. A memo (Ext.P15/PW9) was prepared. The police checked the backpack (Ext.MO2) and found one PAN Card (Ext.MO3), a T-shirt (Ext.MO4), and jeans (Ext. MO5) in the larger pocket of the backpack. A transparent polythene packet (Ext.MO6) tied with a knot was discovered in the pocket of the jeans. The police examined the polythene packet and found heroin inside. The police weighed the heroin and found its weight to be 14 (fourteen) grams. The polythene was tied in the same manner, in which it was recovered. The PAN Card, the T-shirt, and jeans were also placed in the backpack in the same manner as they were recovered. The backpack was placed in a cloth parcel (Ex.MO1), and the parcel was sealed with six seals of impression ‘04 BTR’. The NCB-1 form (Ext.P5/PW2) was filled in triplicate. The seal impression ‘04 BTR’ was applied to the form. A sample seal (Ext. P16/P-9) was placed on the cloth parcel, and the seal was handed over to Anil Kumar (PW- 10) after its use. The NCB-1 form, cloth parcel, sample seal, and bus ticket were seized vide memo (Ext.P17/PW9). Rukka (Ext.P47/PW12) was prepared and sent to the Police Station, Sundernagar, District Mandi, H.P., where an F.I.R. (Ext.P3/PW-2) was registered. SI Ramesh Kumar (PW-11) investigated the case. He arrived on the scene at 6:00 a.m. HC Sarang Sharma (PW-12) handed over Rukka, the memo of search, the NCB-1 form, the seizure memo, the cloth parcel, the sample seal, the bus ticket, and the accused to SI Ramesh Kumar (PW-11) vide memo (Ext.P- 28/PW11). SI Ramesh Kumar (PW-11) prepared the spot map (Ext.P29/PW11). He recorded the statements of witnesses according to their version. He arrested the accused vide memo (Ext.P31/PW11). He produced the case file, the accused, and the case property before SHO Bharat Bhushan (PW-6), who resealed the parcel with three seals of seal impression CQ. Seal impression (Ext.P9/PW6) was placed on a separate piece of cloth. Columns 9 to 11 of the NCB-1 form (Ext.P5/PW2) were filled by SHO Bharat Bhushan (PW-6). Seal impression was also applied to the NCB-1 form. He handed over th