Conviction upheld under the N.D.P.S. Act despite claims of procedural irregularities; Section 50 not applicable to non-personal searches.

1. U. Krishnan alias Kittu, the appellant herein was convicted under S. 8(c) read with 21 of the N.D.P.S. Act and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,00,000/-, in default to undergo an additional imprisonment for 3 years. This conviction and sentence is the subject matter of challenge before this Court in this appeal.

2. The short facts leading to conviction could be summarised as follows : -
"(a) Smt. Gladys Lily, PW. 1 the Superintendent of Central Excise, Customs Preventive Unit, Nagercoil received the information on 16-9-1994 that one Krishnan alias Kittu of Radhapuram would be arriving near Antony Church on the eastern side seashore of Idinthakarai village with a bag containing about 10 kgs. of heroin in order to smuggle the same to Sri Lanka. The information was recorded under Ex. P1 by P.W. 1 at about 9.00 p.m. After sending the said information to the superior officials, P.W. 1, the Superintendent, P.W. 2, the local mahazar witness along with other officers went to the spot.
(b) Near seashore in Idinthakarai village at about 2.30 a.m. on 17-9-1994, the appellant / accused was found sitting on the eastern side of the Church. He was having a bag and a torch light with him. On interrogation, the accused revealed his name and admitted that he was having the bag containing heroin in order to hand over the same to a person who comes from Sri Lanka through boat. Then, the officers examined the bag in the presence of P.W. 2 mahazar witness and the officials and it contained four plastic bags, one inside the other. After removing all these plastic bags, the officers finally found out five polythene covers. While it was opened, it was found to contain brown powder. When it was weighed, the same was found to be 8.1 kgs. The mahazar Ex. P2 was prepared after seizure of the articles, bags and contraband. Then, the accused was taken to the Office of the Customs Preventive Unit, Nagercoil.
(c) On 17-9-1994, he gave a written statement to P.W. 1 stating that he had been acting as a carrier of narcotic drugs from Madras to Indinthakarai village and also in loading the narcotic drugs into Sri Lankan boats, which reached at the Idinthakarai Coast regularly for the past three months. Then, he was arrested and produced before the Court along with the remand application and contraband.
(d) The samples were deposited into Court. As per the Court's direction, the contraband drug was sent for chemical analysis. P.W. 3 Chemical Analyst analysed the same and sent a report saying that the brown powder was Diacetyl Morphine, namely heroin. On the basis of these materials, P.W. 1 Superintendent of Central Excise filed a complaint.
(e) During the course of trial, P.Ws. 1 to 3 were examined, Exs. P1 to P13 were filed and M.O. 1 to M.O. 4 were marked. On the side of the defence, D.W. 1 was examined.
(f) The accused in the statement under S. 313, Cr. P.C., stated that a false case was foisted against him and the real culprit was allowed to escape and nothing was seized from him and he was taken to the Customs Office not from the Idinthekarai Coast, but from his house at Thiagarajapuram.
(g) The trial Court on considering the evidence available on record, found the accused guilty for the offence under S. 8(c) read with 21 of the N.D.P.S. Act and sentenced him thereunder."

3. Mr. V. Padmanabhan, the learned counsel for the appellant, while assailing the judgment impugned, would contend that the conviction and sentence is illegal, in view of the irregularities in the search, the discrepancies in the evidence adduced by the witnesses and also violation of t