Digitally signed by ALLENA ALLENA ANNAJEE ANNAJEERAO RAO Date:

2026.02.23 17:41:49 +0530

2026:CGHC:8930 HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR CRA No. 409 of 2022 Sagar Khute S/o Sudarshan Khute Aged About 25 Years R/o Village Kasmunda Premnagar, Thana Kasmunda District Korba Chhattisgarh.

... Appellant versus State of Chhattisgarh through Station House Officer, Police Station Saraipali, District Mahasamund Chhattisgarh. ... Respondent For the appellant : Mrs. Anjali Pradhan, Advocate For the State : Dr. (Smt) Richa Pandey, Panel Lawyer (Hon’ble Shri Justice Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal)

(Order on Board)

19/02/2026

1. The present criminal appeal under Section 415(2) of the Bharatiya Nagarika Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 has been preferred by appellant challenging the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 24.02.2022 passed by the learned Special Judge (NDPS Act), Saraipali, District Mahasamund (C.G) in Special Sessions Case (NDPS Act) No.07/2017 whereby the appellant has been convicted and sentenced as under:

2. During trial, the other accused Bajranglal had died and the trial Court has proceeded with the case against the present appellant.

3 (i) The allegation against the appellants is that on 15.03.2017 near Saraipali the accused persons were found in joint possession of a total quantity of 15 Kgs. of contraband Ganja, thereby they committed offence punishable under section 20(b)(ii)(B) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

(ii). The prosecution case in brief is that on 15.03.2017, Assistant Sub-Inspector Harishchand Dwivedi posted at Saraipali Police Station along with his Staff had left for Padmapur Road Over Bridge at 9.35 am for checking vehicles. While they were checking suspicious vehicles the offending vehicle i.e. Indigo car bearing No. CH.03.S0265 arrived at the spot. On intercepting the offending vehicle and questioning, the driver told his name as Sagar Khunte and the person sitting behind the driver’s seat told his name as Bajrang Lal Rathore. A sack was found near the feet of accused Bajrang Lal in the car, in which, 15 packets of ganja were kept. Upon weighing, it was found that each packet contains 1 K.G., and thus total 15 Kgs., of Ganja was recovered from joint possession of two accused persons. A sample of 100 grams ganja was collected from the seized Ganja and sent to the FSL for examination. After completing the investigation and on complying with other procedural requirements, the charge sheet was filed.

4. The prosecution has in all examined 13 witnesses and exhibited 39 documents to prove its case. The accused were examined under Section 313 CrPC wherein they pleaded innocence and false implication. After conclusion of trial and considering the evidence of prosecution witnesses and material available on record, learned Trial Court by impugned judgment, convicted and sentenced the appellant as mentioned above.

5. At this stage, learned counsel for the appellant submits that he does not want to press this appeal on merits and confines his argument only to sentence part. He also submits that out of the maximum jail sentence of 05 years imposed on appellant u/s 20(b)(ii)(B) of NDPS Act for carrying contraband ganja, he had already completed in jail the custody period of 1 year 7 months and 18 days during trial and pendency of this appeal. He submits that the incident took place way back in 2017, since then the appellant is facing the lis and there are no criminal antecedents reported against him. He further submits that there is no minimum sentence provided for the offence punishable under Section 20(b)(ii)(B) of the NDPS Act and looking to the quantity of ganja seized, he prays that the sentence of the appellant be reduced to the period already undergone by the appellants in the interest of justice.

6. Per contra, learned St