IMPORTANT POINT
Confession of accused recorded by a Police Officer is not admissible in evidence as the same is hit by Section 25 of Evidence Act.

JUDGMENT :

(Sandeep Mehta, J.) :

1. These appeals take exception to the final impugned judgment dated 10th November, 2022 passed by the High Court for the State of Telangana at Hyderabad rejecting the Criminal Appeal No. 594 of 2011 preferred by the appellants assailing the judgment dated 30th May, 2011 passed by the Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Hyderabad (hereinafter being referred to as ‘trial Court’) in Sessions Case No. 563 of 2010.

2. By the aforesaid judgment, the learned trial Court, convicted the appellants for the offence punishable under Section 8(c) read with Section 20(b)(ii)(c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985(hereinafter being referred to as the ‘NDPS Act’) and sentenced each of them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years and to pay a fine of Rs.1,00,000/- each, in default, to suffer simple imprisonment for a period of six months.

3. During the pendency of the appeal before the High Court, A-1 (Mohd. Ishaq Ansari) expired and, therefore, the proceedings qua him stood abated before the High Court.

4. For the sake of convenience, the accused will be referred to as A-1(Md. Ishaq Ansari)(expired), A-2(S.A. Shafiullah), A-3(Mohd. Khalid) and A-4(Md. Afsar).

Brief Facts :

5. Mr. M. Srinivasa Rao, Inspector of Police(PW-1), West Zone Task Force (hereinafter being referred to as ‘Inspector PW-1’) claims to have received credible information on 8th May, 2009 regarding transportation of ganja by two persons from Sangareddy to Hyderabad in a ‘Toyota Qualis’ vehicle. PW-1 apprised his superior officers about such source information and after obtaining permission, secured the presence of two panchas, namely, Shareef Shah and Mithun Jana, to associate as panchas and proceeded to the spot along with his team. The Inspector PW- 1 and the team members intercepted a Toyota Qualis vehicle bearing registration no. AP 09 AL 6323 near Galaxy Theatre at 15:00 hours. A-1 and A-2 were allegedly found present in the vehicle. The Inspector PW-1 served them a notice under Section 50 of the NDPS Act. On the request of the accused, a Gazetted Officer i.e., Inspector PW-4(V. Shambabu) was called to the spot to associate in the proceedings. The accused were again given a notice under Section 50 of the NDPS Act by PW-4(V. Shyambabu) who also participated in the search proceedings and it is alleged that three bundles of ganja weighing around 80 kgs found lying in the vehicle were seized in presence of Inspector PW-1 and the panchas.

6. A-1 and A-2 were arrested and interrogated at the spot. Three samples weighing about 50 grams were drawn from each bundle contraband and remaining muddamal ganja was seized vide confession-cum-seizure panchnama (Exhibit P-3). One part of the sample was handed over to A-1 and A-2.

7. Inspector PW-1 thereafter proceeded to hand over the accused along with the seized articles to LW-10(G. Naresh Kumar, Sub-Inspector of Police, Golkonda Police Station)(hereinafter being referred to as ‘Sub-Inspector LW-10’) for further action. Based on these proceedings, a complaint came to be lodged at the Golkonda Police Station and Criminal Case No. 181 of 2009 was registered and investigation was commenced.

8. One part of sample collected from the recovered contraband was forwarded to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) from where a report (Exhibit P-11) was received concluding that the sample was of ganja as defined under Section 2(b) of the NDPS Act. Acting on the confession/interrogation of the two occupants of the car, i.e. A-1 and A-2, the Investigating Officer (PW-5 K. Chandrasekhar Reddy)(hereinafter being referred to as ‘Investigating Officer PW-5’) apprehended the accused A-3 and A- 4. After concluding the investigation, a charge-sheet was filed against the four accused in the trial Court.

9. Upon being charged for the offence punishable under Section 8 read with Section 20(b)(ii)(c) of the NDPS Act, the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. The prosecution examined five witnes