Darshan Singh, J.

This judgment shall dispose of both the afore-captioned appeals as both of them have arisen out of the same FIR pertaining to the same occurrence, even though challan was presented separately and trial too was conducted separately.

2. Cri. Appeal No. 2196-SB of 2003 pertains to Sessions Case No. 48 of 6.9.2000 whereby vide judgment dated 27.9.2003 both the appellants, viz., Samarjit Singh and Vinod Kumar have been held guilty, convicted and sentenced as under :-

Samarjit Singh

Under Section	Punishment	Default clause
307 IPC	RI for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/-	To undergo further RI for two months
489-C IPC	RI for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/-	To undergo further RI for two months

Vinod Kumar

Under Section	Punishment	Default clause
307/34 IPC	RI for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/-	To undergo further RI for two months
489-C IPC	RI for seven years and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/-	To undergo further RI for two months

3. Cri. Appeal No. 2197-SB of 2003 relates to Sessions case No. 49 of 6.9.2000 in which the trial court, vide its judgment of 29.9.2003, held appellant Samarjit Singh guilty of offence punishable under Section 27 of the Arms Act and convicted and sentenced him thereunder to undergo RI for three years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/- and in default of payment of fine, to undergo further RI for two months.

4. The catalogue of the facts and sequence of the events giving rise to this prosecution can be summed up as under:-

5. That on 2.5.2000, DSP Surinderjit Singh Mand laid a naka at Tajpur turning point along with other police officials. He received a secret information that two international smugglers along with fake currency were coming from Begowal side towards Subanpur. At about 4 p.m., the police party noticed a blue colour Tata Sumo bearing registration No. UP-14-J-4534 coming from Begowal side, which was signalled to stop. The driver of the vehicle stopped it about 50 yards short of nakabandi point and starting firing on the police party with his revolver with intention to kill the police officials. He fired three shots. At this Surinderjit Singh Mand DSP took AK 47 rifle of his gunman and returned two fires towards the Tata sumo. The driver of the Tata sumo immediately took U-turn and started speeding the vehicle towards Nadala. The police party chased the said vehicle and they were overtaken near village Lakhan Ke Padde. Due to high speed, driver of the Tata sumo could not control the vehicle and it slipped away from the road. The police party overpowered the occupants of the vehicle, i.e., the appellants. Appellant Samarjit Singh was driving the vehicle while appellant Vinod Kumar was sitting by his side. From the personal search of Samarjit Singh, .30 bore revolver make Webley Scott was recovered from left dab of his pants. On unloading, three empty cartridges were recovered. These articles were kept in sealed parcels. On the search of the vehicle, a plastic bag containing fake currency notes of Rs. 500/- denomination worth Rs. 20.00 lacs were recovered. Further from the jute bag lying on the thighs of appellant Vinod Kumar, the fake currency notes of Rs. 5,48,000/- of the denomination of Rs. 500/- and the fake currency notes of Rs. 6,22,000/- of the denomination of Rs. 100/- were recovered and were taken into police possession. The accused also could not produce any document of ownership of the vehicle. The same was also taken into possession. The Investigating Officer sent ruqa to the police station on the basis of which case has been registered. Both the accused, appellants, were arrested. The formalities of the investigation at the spot were completed. The arms and ammunition and fake currency notes were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory f