Bala Krishna Narayana, J. –

These three criminal appeals have been filed by the appellants Raj Kumar Bajpai, Anand Tiwari and Akhilesh Dixit against the judgment and order dated 17.02.2009 passed by Sessions Judge, Gorakhpur in Special Trial No. 64 of 2007, Union of India v. Raj Kumar Bajpai and two others under Sections 8, 20 of the NDPS Act, P.S. Pravartan Abhikaran DRI, District Gorakhpur by which the appellants were convicted under Sections 8, 20 of the NDPS Act and sentenced to 12 years R.I. and a fine of Rs. 1 lakh each and in default of payment of fine one year additional R.I., each.

2. Since all the three appeals arise out of the same incident and are directed against the same judgment and order, therefore they are being heard and decided together by a common judgment.

3. Briefly stated, facts of the case, as evident from the complaint filed by Rajeev Kumar Gupta, complainant, who was posted as Intelligence Officer, Directorate Revenue Intelligence, Gorakhpur at the relevant point of time, before the Sessions Judge, Gorakhpur are that Assistant Director, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Regional Unit, Gorakhpur received a secret information on 26.02.2007 at about