1. The appellants herein namely, Thanapandi, Ramani, Anushan and Yoganath Kumar were found guilty of offences under Section 8(c) read with 20(b)(ii)(B) of NDPS Act by the Second Additional Special District Court for NDPS Act Cases at Madurai in C.C.No 269 of 2013. Aggrieved by the conviction and sentence, the accused have preferred appeals individually. Since the above four appeals arise from same judgment, common judgment is passed. For better clarity, the appellants are referred as per their description and ranking in the Trial Court.

2. Brief facts:

(i) On 28.06.2013 at about 22.00 hours at Madurai, K.Pudur, SIDCO Arch, when the Inspector of Police, Law and Order, K.Pudur Police Station and his team were on patrol, found two persons suspiciously in an Auto bearing Registration No.TN-59-AP-5392. When questioned about their name and address, initially they gave contradictory response, later disclosed their name as Thanapandi (A.1) and Ramani (A.2). They confessed possession of ganja (cannabis) kept for sale. They were informed about their option to be searched before a gazetted officer or Judicial Magistrate. They declined to exercise the option. They produced 2.100 kilogr