PATEL DINESHBHAI SOMABHAI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two appeals arise out of the judgment of conviction that came to be delivered by the learned Sessions Judge, Mehsana at the end of the trial in Sessions Case No. 74 of 1988. The said case came to be dealt with by him when charge sheet under Section 21 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (for short "NDPS Act") came to be filed. The case arose out of an information that PSI of Visnagar Mr. Patel had received on 5-2-1988. He was given to understand that a scooter carrying two persons is to come on the highway from Gandhinagar side going towards Visnagar and these two persons are carrying on in the dickey of the scooter Narcotic material. Accordingly, a watch was kept on the road along with panchas. At about 3.00 p.m. or so, a scooter did come with 2 riders. It was made to stop, search was carried out from the dickey thereof, the raiding party found a plastic bag, which prima facie appeared to be containing brown sugar. The material contained in the bag was weighed and its weight was 910 grams. Usual sea lings and other procedures were carried out, but before that 10 grams from the bulk was taken apart and kept separately for the purpose of getting it analysed by the Forensic Science Laboratory. At the end of the said analysis, the article was reported to be brown sugar by the Forensic Science Laboratory, Ahmedabad.

(2.) Though at the time of the aforesaid watch, only two persons were riding the scooter No. GUH 524, there came to be arrested a third person accused No. 3, because, according to the prosecution, he was the supplier.

(3.) The case so far as the first two accused is concerned, is to the effect that they had borrowed the aforesaid scooter from one Govindbhai, who has been examined in the course of the trial. Therefore, apparently, as per the prosecution case, these two accused were proceedings towards Visnagar with the aforesaid article. The scooter was borrowed from Govindbhai at village Kukarwada.