NARAYAN RAGHOJI GANGAWANE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant was tried for having committed an offence punishable u/ s. 20 (i) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as "n. D. P. S. Act"), for having cultivated Ganja plants in his land. The learned Additional sessions Judge, Washim by his judgment and order dtd. 18-01-2003 convicted the appellant for offence u/s. 20 (i) of N. D. P. S. Act and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for five years, with fine of Rs. 20,000/-, indefault rigorous imprisonment for further two years. The appellant has challenged this judgment of conviction and sentence in this appeal.

(2.) AS per the prosecution case the appellant, Narayan Gangawane r/o Village depool, Tq. and Dist. Washim had cultivated ganja plants in his land bearing block No. 211. Police Inspector Pradhan Rathod (P. W. 4), who was attached to L. C. B. Washim on 28-08-2001 received information that the appellant was having Ganja plants cultivated in his land. He intimated this information to his superior i. e. Superintendent of Police Washim by phone. Then taking with him two persons namely keshav and Gajanan from Tahsil Office, washim, alongwith his staff, he came to Police station Asegaon and after making entry in station Diary vide entry No. 10 in respect of the information, he proceeded to the Village depool for carrying out the raid. After going to the Village he called the appellant and asked him to accompany the raiding party to his land. Accordingly, appellant alongwith raiding party reached to his agricultural land block No. 211, admittedly owned and possessed by the accused. It was noticed that in the Northern portion of the land in the crop of Tur, there were plants of Ganja. Besides that in the land the crop of Udid, Tur and cotton was standing. The complainant P. I. , Rathod asked the appellant whether he wanted to take personal search of raiding party to which the appellant declined. Then the raiding party with the help of labourer uprooted those Ganja plants from the land of accused and when counted those were found to be 2600 in number. The plants were weighed on the scale. P. I. , Rathod obtained three samples of Ganja plants weighing 50 gms. each in the presence of panchas and the samples were seized and sealed. The remaining Ganja plants were also seized and sealed in four qunny bags and seizure memo (Exh. 12) was drawn on the spot. Thereafter, appellant with property seized was brought to the Police Station Asegaon and P, i. Rathod lodged first information report (Exh. 31) against the appellant and on the basis of that offence was registered against the appellant vide C. R. No. 12/01. P. I. , Rathod on the same day sent a special report (Exh. 38-A) to the Superintendent of Police Washim in respect of the raid, seizure and arrest of the appellant and registration of the offence against him. The property was deposited in the Police Station Asegaon which was later on referred to the Chemical Analyser for analysis. P. I. , Rathod himself took up investigation in the matter and during the course of investigation he recorded the statements of witnesses including concerned Talathi Mr. Ramesh (P. W. 2) who prepared the map of the land of accused. After receiving the report of c. A. (Exh. 25), and after completing investigation, P. I. , Rathod filed the charge-sheet against the appellant.

(3.) THE learned Sessions Judge, when the appellant appeared before him framed charge for said offence against the appellant vide Exh. 5, to which the appellant pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried. The defence of appellant is that of denial. The prosecution examined in all five witnesses including Keshav Habibhau Chavhan (P. W. 1)who was selected as panch witness for seizure, ramesh Garpal (P. W. 2) who was working as talathi and Village Depool was in his jurisdiction and he was acquainted with the land of the appellant, Shaikh Badruddin Mohd. Nijamuddin (P. W. 3) who was A. S. I. , attached to Police Station Asegaon who was in charge of Malkhana and he on 28-08-2001 received three sealed sample bags each containing 50 gms. of Ganja and 2600 Ganja plants which were kept in four gunny bags and P. I. Rathod (P. W. 4) and Police Constable Rajesh (P. W. 5)who carried the property to Chemical analyser. When the appellant was examined u/s. 313 of Cr. P. C. , after the evidence of prosecution was over, the appellant filed his written statement. In that he has denied the prosecution case outright. He has stated that the Patwari had inspected the crops in the field on 20-08-2001 and he has issued 7/12 extracts for the year 2001-2002 vide Exh. 15 and 16 in which there is no mention of Oanja crop being cultivated in the land of the appellant. The trial court taking into consideration the evidence brought on record, the statement of the appellant, the documentary evidence came to the conclusion that the appellant had cultivated Ganja plants in his land and that P. I. , Rathod, on the day when the raid was carried out, seized those Ganja plants 2600 in number and therefore the appellant committed the offence punishable u/s. 20 (i) of the N. D. P. S. Act and accordingly by its judgment and order awarded substantive sentence and also the sentence of fine as stated in earlier part of the judgment. Hence, this appeal.