SHEIKH GAFFAR @ ABDUL GAFFAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants, original accused nos. 1 to 4 have assailed the judgment and order dtd. 14/11/2022 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge-4 and Judge, Special Court, ATS, Nagpur in Sessions Trial Case No. 69/2016 whereby accused no. 1 - Mir Anwarul S/o Mir Hussain (appellant no. 1 in Criminal Appeal No. 281/2023), accused no. 2 - Sheikh Gaffar @ Abdul Gaffar S/o Sheikh Mussa (appellant no. 1 in Criminal Appeal No. 880/2022) and accused no. 3 - Sheikh Sattar S/o Sheikh Mussa (appellant no. 2 in Criminal Appeal No. 880/2022) were convicted for the offences punishable under Ss. 489-B, 489-C, 120-B read with Sec. 489-B and 120-B read with Sec. 489-C of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under Ss. 16 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (for short 'UAPA Act'). The trial Court imposed punishment maximum of which is 12 years and total fine of Rs.16,00,000.00 for different offences. Accused no. 4 - Mohd. Obedulla @ Abdul Haq S/o Sakir Ali (appellant no. 2 in Criminal Appeal No. 281/2023) was convicted for the offences punishable under Ss. 120-B read with Sec. 489-B and 120-B read with Sec. 489-C of the IPC and under Sec. 18 of the UAPA Act and the trial Court imposed punishment maximum of which is 12 years and total fine of Rs.15,00,000.00 for different offences.

(2.) The prosecution's case is that on 4/10/2015, the ATS Nagpur received reliable information that a person aged about 3032 years wearing a red T-shirt and carrying a black sack was coming to Nagpur from Malda by Shalimar Express carrying counterfeit Indian Currency Notes for distribution in Nagpur city. Accordingly ATS Nagpur laid a trap on Platform No.7 at Nagpur Railway Station and at about 1.15 p.m. the accused no. 1 Mir Anwarul was detained after being pointed out by the informant. On search of his sack bag in presence of panchas, bundles of currency notes wrapped in cloth and polythene were found. He was unable to give satisfactory explanation. He was taken to GRP Police Station and detailed checking of the bag revealed 620 counterfeit currency notes of Rs.1000.00 denomination and 582 counterfeit currency notes of Rs.500.00 denomination totaling to Rs.9,11,000.00.

(3.) Learned counsels for the appellants submit that the appellants are in jail for more than ten years and, therefore, are not really challenging the judgment on facts. The argument is that the trial Court committed error of law in imposing sentence of twelve years for the offence punishable under Sec. 489-B of the IPC. The counsels have invited our attention to Sec. 489-B of IPC, which reads thus :-