The conviction under the NDPS Act was upheld based on credible police testimonies, despite minor discrepancies, establishing the integrity of the case property.

JUDGMENT :

Rakesh Kainthla, J.

The present appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction dated 17.1.2011 and order of sentence dated 18.1.2011, passed by learned Special Judge-II, Solan, District Solan, 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 20 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (hereinafter to be referred as ‘the ND&PS Act’) and was sentenced to undergorigorous imprisonment for four months, pay fine of Rs.4,000/- and in default of payment of fine to further undergo imprisonment for 15 days for the commission of the aforesaid offence. (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 20 of the ND&PS Act. It was asserted that HC Rajesh Kumar (PW9), and Constable Umesh Pal (PW8) had gone towards Waknaghat, Kayarighat, Shalaghat etc. to patrol vide entry No. 25 (Ex.PW6/B) in the official vehicle bearing registration No. HP-14A-6204, which was being driven by Constable Rambhaj. They met Constable Praveen Kumar (PW2), who was earlier sent for patrolling vide entry No. 24 (Ex.PW6/A). Uma Dutt (PW1) also sought a lift from HC Rajesh Kumar (PW9). He and Constable Praveen Kumar boarded the official vehicle bearing registration No. HP-14A-6204. When the vehicle reached Waknaghat Bowri (Water Spring), at 6.15 PM, the accused was seen going towards Kandaghat carrying a polythene bag (Ex. P2) in his right hand. He tried to get down the hill after seeing the police. The police became suspicious that the accused might have some stolen articles or he might have committed some offence. The police apprehended him. The accused identified himself as Devender Kumar. The police checked the carry bag (Ex. P2) being carried by the accused. A dhoti (Ex. P3) containing charas (Ex. P4) wrapped in a transparent polythene packet (Ex. P5) was found inside the carry bag. Constable Umesh Dutt (PW1) brought the electronic weighing scale from Bhagat Singh (PW5). The charas was weighed and its weight was found to be 260 grams. It was put in the transparent polythene, which was put in dhoti and dhoti was put in the carry bag from which it was recovered in the same manner in which they were found. The carry bag was put in a cloth parcel and the parcel was sealed with three seal impressions of X. The seal impression (Ex.PW3/D) was taken on a separate piece of cloth. NCB-1 Form (Ex.PW3/E) was filled. The seal impression was taken on the form and the seal was handed over to Uma Dutt (PW1) after use. A Memo of handing over the seal (Ex.PW1/C) was prepared. The parcel was seized vide memo (Ex.PW1/D). Rukka (Ex.PW3/A) was prepared and sent to the Police Station, where FIR (Ex.PW3/B) was registered. HC Rajesh Kumar (PW9) conducted the investigation. He prepared the site plan (Ex.PW9/A) and recorded the statements of witnesses as per their version. He arrested the accused vide seizure memo (Ex.PW9/B). He brought the accused and the case property to the Police Station and produced them before ASI Ashok Kumar (PW3). ASI Ashok Kumar checked the seals on the parcels and sealed them with seal ‘Y’ at six places. He obtained the seal impression (Ex.PW3/D) on a separate piece of cloth. He filled Columns No.9 to 11 of the NCB-1 Form (Ex.PW3/E). He obtained a seal impression of ‘Y’ on the NCB-1 form. He issued a certificate of resealing (Ex.PW3/F). He handed over the case property, sample seals, NCB-1 Form in triplicate and other documents to HC Brij Lal (PW6) who made an entry at Serial No. 57/09 in the Malkhana register (Ex.PW6/F) and deposited all the articles in Malkhana. He handed over the parcel, sample seals, memo and FIR to HHC Sohan Lal (PW4), who carried them to FSL, Junga