The central legal point established in the judgment is the application of Section 15 of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 in determining the guilt of the appellant for possessing narcotics contraband.

Hemant Gupta, J.

1. This order shall dispose of Criminal Appeal No. 550-DB of 2007 filed by the convict against the judgment of conviction dated 5.5.2007 and order of sentence dated 7.5.2007 passed by the Addl. Sessions Judge, Sirsa, whereby the appellant was convicted for an offence punishable under Section 15 of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter called as the Act) and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 12 years, and to pay a fine of Rs. 1 lac and; Criminal Appeal No, 323-DB of 2008 filed by the State of Haryana against the acquittal of Sarja Singh, owner of the truck from which, the contraband was recovered.

2. The prosecution case was set in motion on the statement of Inspector Om Parkash, SHO P.S. Sirsa. He has stated that on 17.7.2004, when he was on duty alongwith other police officials, he received a secret information to the effect that a truck bearing registration No. RJ-13-G-0712 loaded with huge quantity of gunny bags of poppy straw by Madan Lal@ Maddi son of Mahinder and Sandeep Kumar, driver would come on road by the side of Lord Shiva College and if a nakabandi is held on way of Lord Shiva College, they can be apprehended. On receipt of this information, he prepared a notice under Section 42 of the Act and sent Constable Chander Pal on the government motor-cycle for taking the same to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, City. Thereafter, he alongwith other police officials reached at T-point of Lord Shiva College Road for holding nakabandi. At about 10.30 PM, one truck was seen coming from the side of Lord Shiva College. On seeing the police party at naka, the truck was stopped by the driver at a distance. Couple of persons alighted from the truck from different sides and started running. On suspicion, with the help of other officials, a person, who alighted from the side of driver, was apprehended, whereas other persons alighted from the other sides managed to escape by taking advantage of darkness. On enquiry, the person so apprehended disclosed his name as Sandeep son of Pritam Singh, the appellant herein. He (Sandeep) further disclosed that Madan Lal @ Maddi is the person, who has run away. The secret informant also told the name of fleeing person as Madan Lal @ Maddi. On reaching near the truck, the registration number of the truck was found as RJ-13-G-0712. The truck was found to be loaded with gunny bags and it seems that some of the gunny bags have been unloaded from it, as rear portion of the truck was empty. He suspected that gunny bags, carried in the said truck, were containing poppy straw. A notice under Section 50 of the Act was served upon Sandeep Kumar informing him that he can summon a Gazetted Officer or Magistrate to the spot for his personal search and of the truck. The appellant replied that he does not want to get the search of. his truck through him (Inspector Om Parkash) and wanted the search of the truck to be conducted in the presence of a Gazetted Officer. Thereafter, at about 11.15 PM, Shri Sajjan Kumar, Deputy Superintendent of Police, City, Sirsa alongwith his personal staff came to the spot. Under the orders of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, the truck was got unloaded through the officials. 100 gunny bags were recovered from the truck. After opening, all the gunny bags were found to be containing poppy straw. HC Jagdish Chander and Constable Chander Pal were sent for arranging cloth packets and other articles. At about 1.00 AM, both the officials reached at the spot alongwith the articles and light gas cylinder. Couple of samples each weighing 100 grams of poppy straw from each of the gunny bags were taken out and converted into parcels. Each gunny bag was stitched with white cloth and on weighment each bag was found containing 40.8 kgs. of poppy straw alongwith the weight of the bag. The sample parcels and all the gunny bags were sealed by him (Om Parkash) with his seal "OP" bearing four seals and by the Deput