Judgment

Mr. Harpreet Singh Brar, J.

The present appeal has been preferred against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 29.04.2014 passed by the learned Judge, Special Court, Chandigarh in case bearing FIR No.214 dated 17.08.2012 registered under Section 15 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as the NDPS Act) registered at Police Station Industrial Area, Chandigarh whereby the appellant has been convicted for commission of offence under Section 15 of the NDPS Act and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years with a fine of Rs.1 lakh and in default of payment of fine to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

2. In brief, the version put forth by prosecution is that on 17.08.2012, SI Malook Singh along with other police officials was present at the checkpoint near CTU workshop depot for checking suspicious persons owing to incidents of theft that had occurred in the city recently. At about 4:30 PM, one vehicle bearing registration No.HP-12-B-4448, which was being driven by the accused-appellant, came from the side of cremation ground of village Dadua and the said vehicle was signalled to be stopped by S.I. Malook Singh. On checking the said vehicle, one plastic gunny bag was found lying near driver’s seat and another plastic gunny bag was recovered from the small box built behind the seat of the driver. Both gunny bags were found to be containing poppy husk. On the asking of the Investigating Officer, the driver of the vehicle disclosed his name as Jagtar Singh son of Banta Singh, resident of Village Allapur, P.S. Kurali, District Mohali. He could not produce any licence or permit for keeping the poppy husk in his possession. The plastic gunny bags were weighed with the help of a weighing machine and the weight came to be 50 kgs for each bag. Two samples of 2 kgs each were taken from each of the plastic gunny bags and thereafter, they were converted into sealed parcels by SI Malook Singh with his seal bearing impression ‘MS’. The seal after use was handed over to SI Balwinder Singh. The sample parcels and the remaining property as well as the vehicle bearing registration No.HP-12-B-4448 were taken into possession vide recovery memo, which was attested by SI Balwinder Singh and Constable Balbir Singh. As the accused appeared to have committed an offence under Section 15 of the NDPS Act by possessing 100 kgs of poppy husk, ruqa was sent to the police station on the basis of which FIR was registered.

3. Thereafter, ASI Amarjit Singh, second Investigating Officer reached the spot and the accused along with entire case property was handed over to him. He prepared a rough site plan. On return to the police station, the accused as well as the entire case property was produced before SHO Malkiat Singh, who affixed his own seal bearing impression ‘MS’ on each of the parcel and deposited the same with MMHC.

4. After completion of investigation, challan against the accused was prepared and presented in the court. As per Section 207 Cr.P.C., copies of documents as relied upon by the prosecution were supplied to the accused free of costs.

5. After considering the rival contentions and perusing the record, commission of offence under Section 15 of the NDPS Act was made out against the accused and thus, he was charged accordingly. The accused-appellant pleaded not guilty to the same and claimed trial.

6. In support of its case, the prosecution examined as many as nine witnesses and thereafter closed its evidence.

7. Statement of the accused-a