THOMSON Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The above three appeals arise from one judgment in which three persons stand convicted ultimately for offences under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (for short "the Act") 1985. We will refer to them by the rank in which they were referred in the Trial Court. A.1 - T. Thomson was convicted under S.21 and 25 of the Act and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 20 years each under the above counts besides a fine of Rs. 2 lakhs each under both counts. A.2 - Bhuvanachandran Nair and A.3 - Madhusoodhan Achari were convicted under S.21 alone, but sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 20 years and to pay a fine of Rs. 2 lakhs each. There was a fourth person arrayed in the Trial Court by name Jay Kumar. Though he was convicted under the same Section and was convicted with the same sentence he got acquittal from the High Court. So the three convicted persons have filed these appeals by special leave.

(2.) PW 1 S. Madanan (the Superintendent of Central Excise, Customs and Intelligence Unit, Trivandrum) conducted a raid on 27, December 1993 in the building which is said to be the residence of first accused - T. Thomson. The raiding party recovered brown sugar kept in a polythene bag. It weighed 506 grams. The three appellants were present in the house then. They were arrested by the raiding party.

(3.) The evidence mainly rests on the statements recorded from the three appellants separately under S.67 of the Act. Ext. P2 is a statement attributed to the first accused, Ext. P3 is attributed to the second accused while Ext. P4 is said to have been given by the third accused.