IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA.

Cr. A. Nos. 57 & 138 of 2018 Reserved on: 20.09.2023 Date of decision: 26.09.2023 Cr.A. No. 57 of 2018 Sohan Singh & Anr. …Appellants Versus State of Himachal Pradesh …Respondent Cr.A. No. 138 of 2018 Deepak Raj r …Appellant Versus State of Himachal Pradesh …Respondent Coram C The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Judge.

The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Ranjan Sharma, Judge.

Whether approved for reporting? No.

For the Appellant(s) : Mr. Ajay Kochhar, Sr. Advocate with i Mr. Vivek Sharma and Mr. Anubhav H Chopra, Advocates, for the appellant in Cr. A. No. 57 of 2018.

Ms. Manisha Thamta, Advocate, vice Mr. Prashant Chaudhary, Advocate, for the appellant in Cr. A. No. 138 of

2018 For the Respondent: Mr. I. N. Mehta, Sr. A. G. with Ms.

Sharmila Patial, Addl. A.G and Mr. J.

S. Guleria, Dy. A. G.

Tarlok Singh Chauhan, Judge.

Since both these appeals arise out of a common judgment of conviction and sentence passed by the learned Special Judge, therefore, they were taken up together for consideration and are being disposed of by a common judgment.

2. The appellants have been H convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for the period of 10 years each and to pay a fine of Rs.f1,00,000/- each for the commission of offence punishable under Section 20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, 1985 (for short ND&PS Act) and in rdefault of payment of fine, to further undergo simple imprisonment for three years each; the appellants were further convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorousC imprisonment for the period of 10 years each and to pay fine of Rs. 1,00,000/- each for the commission of offence punishable under Section 25 of the ND & PS Act and in default gof payment of fine to further undergo simple imprisonment for three years each and the appellants were further convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for the period of 10 years each and to pay fine of Rs. 1,00,000/- each for the offence punishable under Section 29 of the ND&PS Act and in default of payment of fine to further undergo simple imprisonment for three years each and the period of all the sentences has been ordered to be run concurrently.

3. Aggrieved by the aforesaid conviction and sentence passed by the learned Special Judge, the appellants have filed the instant appeals.

4. The prosecution case in brief is thHat on 22.01.2016 HC Tej Singh (PW-5) alongwith SHO Jagdish Chand (PW-1), HHC Bhikho Ram, C. Manish Kumar (PW-2), HfHG Kulwant Singh in a government vehicle bearing registration No. HP48-0863 driven by HHC Des Raj proceeded on the patrolling duty i.e. trafÏc checking. At about 12.45r p.m., when they were at Haluli Mod towards Kandhwara road, one vehicle bearing registration No. HP-38D-9606 came from the side of Kandhwara, which was signalledC to stop for checking by SHO Jagdish Chand (PW-1). In that vehicle three persons were found sitting. The driver of that vehicle stopped the vehicle at some distance in a gperplexed mood. SHO Jagdish Chand (PW-1) asked about the credentials of all the appellants sitting in the car, on which the driver of the vehicle disclosed his name as Sohan Singh and the person who was sitting besides him disclosed his name as Kamal Kishore and the person sitting on the back seat of the car disclosed his name as Deepak Raj. At that time witness, Hem Raj was also present at spot, whose shop was adjacent to the spot. Thereafter, SHO Jagdish Chand (PW-1) also called other shopkeeper Kuldeep Kumar (PW-3) to the spot.

5. Thereafter, in the presence of above said two witnesses, SHO started to search the car. During the search of vehicle, a Pithu bag having 4 zips and BS logo appended on it, was found in between the two front seats ofH the car. The SHO opened the largest zip of the bag and on opening the same, a blue coloured carry bag was found. fOn checking the blue coloured carry bag black coloured hard substance in the shape of 'sticks' and 'balls' was found. The black co