Judgement

CHINNAPPA REDDY, J.:- On the intervening night of November 29/30, 1984, the Security Police Patrol on duty near Jogbani Checkpost noticed a jeep speeding towards the Indo-Nepal border. The jeep was stopped. There were five occupants in the jeep. One of them was Simranjit Singh Mann who had been dismissed from the Indian Police Service. An order of preventive detention under the National Security Act had been made against him on August 29, 1986. He was wanted in that connection but had gone underground. On being questioned by the police patrol party, they first refused to disclose their names and identity. This aroused the suspicions of the police party. One of the officers was able to identify Simranjit Singh Mann. The five occupants in the jeep were searched as also their baggage. A sum of Rs. 62,722 was found with one of the occupants, who it is alleged offered the police party a large amount as bribe if they were allowed to cross the Indo-Nepal Border. As a result of the search, a number of documents and other articles were seized. From the person of Simranjit Singh Mann were seized, a copy of a letter dated June 2, 1984 from Simranjit Singh Mann to the Chief Secretary,