GULAM MOHAMAD GULAM AHMAD Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is filed challenging the Judgment and order dated 7/08/2000 delivered by Special Judge, N. D. P. S. Act, greater Bombay, convicting the appellant for offence under Section 8 (c)read with Section 20 (b) (ii) of the N. D. P. S. Act and sentencing him to RI for 10 years and to pay fine of Rs. 1 lac in default RI for three months.

(2.) BRIEFLY narrated the prosecution case is as follows :-On 18/1/2000 PSI Ravindra Ranshewre while on duty received information on telephone around 10. 25 a. m. that one Abdul, one Gulam Mohd. aged about 60 years and one Nazir Baban aged about 50 to 55 years dealing illegally in Charas in Mumbai were expected near Fire Brigade, malwani Gate No. 1, Marve Road, Malad (W) between 14. 15 hrs. to 15. 15 hrs. for selling Charas to their customers by name Rashid arid a lady by name Rahana. The descriptions of the customers were also given in the information. On receipt of the said information PSI Ranshewre attached to Anti Narcotic Cell, CB, CID entered the gist of the information in the station diary at about 10. 30 hrs. He showed the station diary to P. I. Tele and apprised him about the said information. That time PSI Upparkar was also present in the cabin of the Narcotic Cell Office. The extract of the said station diary entry was handed over to the Sr. P. I. Jadhav as well as ACP and DCP. On the direction of P. I. Tele two persons from Cuff parade area were procured to act as panch. The search of the panchas was taken and they were apprised about the information received by pw. 5. The search of police staff was also taken. Nothing incriminating was found. The office seal was taken by P. I. Tele from Sr. P. I. and other requisite material for the raid was collected. The panchanama of above events was drawn in the office of Anti Narcotic Cell. After making entry in the station diary at Sr. No. 10 the raiding party left the office in o. fficial vehicle MH-01-4425. The said vehicle was also searched but nothing incriminating was found. A panchanama to that effect was prepared. Thereafter the raiding party reached near Municipal School, Marve Road, malwani, Malad (W) at 13. 45 hrs. The members of the raiding party got down from the vehicle and reached near Fire Brigade, Gate No. 1, Malwani after walking for 7 to 8 minutes. At about 14. 20 hrs. one person alighted from the bus and went near Fire Brigade Station. He was holding a carry bag with the inscription thereon as "benzer". The person conformed to the description given of Gulam Mohd. He was waiting for somebody near Fire Brigade. All the members of the raiding party went and apprehended him. P. I. Tele introduced himself to the said person and showed his identity card. He also introduced other members of the raiding party and panchas to the said person. On inquiry the person gave his name as gulam Mohd. Gulam Ahmed Padai and gave his Mumbai address of Aram palace hotel. He also gave his address of State of Kashmir. The person was told about the information received by the officer that he was possessing Charas and they wanted to take his search. He was told he had a right to give his search in the presence of nearest Magistrate or Gazetted officer. But he declined the offer. On being asked the accused handed over his bag to P. I. Tele. When the same was opened there was one more plastic bag in that bag. There were 15 ball shaped black coloured hard pieces of different sizes and 7 half broken balls. When the same was tested the substance was found to be Charas. All the balls and pieces of substance weighed around 2 kgs. Two samples of 25 gms. each were prepared and kept in two different plastic packets. The plastic packets were stapled and thereafter put in two different envelopes. The remaining quantity of Charas was put in the same white coloured carry bag and wrapped in a Khaki cover. The said packet was marked as "a". Two sample packets were marked as "al" and "a2". The empty carry bag having inscription as "benzer" was folded and put it in an envelope and marked as "b". On the personal search of the accused cash of Rs. 160/-was found with him which was also put in a brown packet and marked as "c". On all the five packets labels bearing signatures of two panchas and of PW 5 were affixed. All the packets were pasted at the spot and sealed. Accused declined to put his signature on the packets. The accused was arrested by P. I. Tele, who also took all the packets in his custody. Panchanama of all the events was drawn and read over to both the panchas and their signatures were obtained. The said panchanama was also countersigned by PW 5. Copy of the panchanama was given to the accused and his signature was obtained. The raiding party then returned to the office along with the panchas and the accused. P. I. Tele deposited seized property to Sr. P. I. under memo Exh. 19. Statement of the panch Ashtamkar pw 4 was recorded. PSI Upparkar lodged FIR which is at Exh. 7. The crime was registered under C. R. No. 2 of 2000 against the accused. The station diary entries were made about the registration of the offence etc. The accused was detained at Azad Maidan Police Station. One of the sample packets was obtained by PW 5 from Sr. P. I. under memo Exh. 21. He prepared forwarding letter Exh. 22 and sent to C. A. On 19/1/2000 the belongings of the accused were checked in hotel Palace, but nothing incriminating was found. On the same day special detailed report about the events was sent to Sr. P. I. , ACP and DCP by PW 5, a copy whereof is produced at Exh. 23. C. A. report dated 3/2/2000 received on 15/2/ 2000 is produced at Exh. ll. As per the C. A. report the sample was found to be of Charas. After completion of the investigation charge-sheet was filed in the Court of Special Judge on 6/4/2000.

(3.) THE Special Judge framed charges against the accused for offence under Section 8 (c) read with Section 29 of N. D. P. S. Act and for offence under Section 8 (c) read with Section 20 of the said Act, to which accused pleaded not guilty. On behalf of the prosecution five witnesses have been examined: PW 1 is PSI Tulsidas Upparkar. PW2 is Smt. Manda Patil, attached to Narcotic Cell, who had taken the sample packets to the office of C. A. PW 3 is Mahadeo Mestrekar, the Assistant Chemical Analyser working in the Forensic Science Laboratory, Kalina, Mumbai. PW 4 is jojeph Ashtamkar, who acted as panch. Lastly, PW 5 is PSI Ravindra ranshewre, attached to Narcotic Cell, CB, CID. The defence of the accused was of total denial.