SHER SINGH Vs. STATE OF GOA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By the present application, the accused who has been convicted and sentenced under Section 20(b)(ii)(C) of N.D.P.S. Act, 1985, for having been found in possession of 18.760 kgs. of charas on 11-2-2005 at 00.10 hours, seeks for setting aside the said Judgment and a remand to the trial Court to take additional evidence by recalling for further cross-examination panch witness Shri Shekhar @ Vilas Mahadik/PW3 and the Investigation Officer Shri Raju Raut Dessai/PW5.

(2.) It appears that the trial of the accused was conducted by another advocate and so was the appeal filed. The controversy centers around a document styled as "property seizure memo", a copy of which was not furnished to the accused at the time of the trial, and which otherwise is not shown was required to be furnished, and which was only required to be fed into a computer for the records of the State Crime Record Bureau and which in turn is forwarded to National Crime Record Bureau.

(3.) The case of the accused is that the said document is found referred to in the station diary extract/Exh.41 brought on record by the said Investigation Officer but it was suppressed from the Court, and as such escaped the notice of the then Counsel of the accused till it came to light when the present Counsel after filing of the appeal by the previous Counsel, came in possession of the same under the Right to Information Act. As per the accused, the said panch witness Shri Shekhar @ Vilas Mahadik has stated in his evidence that the panchanama and the seizure report were prepared at the spot and signed by both the panchas and likewise he had stated that some typing work was done at the spot and that he did not recall if some typing work was done, and not signed by him. According to the said panch witness Shri Shekhar/PW3, he returned to Panaji and got down from the jeep at Panaji ANC Police Station outskirts and then left for his residence. The contention is that Shri Dessai/PW5 had stated that he had handed over the seal to Dy.S.P. Anand Virnodkar/PW4 along with the letter at the Police Station, and this fact has been confirmed by Virnodkar/PW4 and in case the said document was prepared at the site of seizure then it could not have contained the F.I.R. number, etc. Further, it is the contention of the accused that the said document belies the case of the prosecution on various material aspects such as safe custody of the alleged articles, possibility of use of the seal subsequent to the alleged raid and prior handing it over to the Dy. S.P.Virnodkar/PW4, if at all. It is also contended that the signatures of the panchas on the said "property seizure memo" raises various questions on the presence of panchas and it does not rule out the possibility of the panchas signing the document at the Police Station and this is more so because the panch witness Shri Shekhar/PW3 has categorically stated that he got down from the jeep at Panaji ANC Police Station outskirts and left for his residence, and if that be so his signature could not have appeared on the said "property seizure memo" of the same date i.e. 11-2-2005. It is also stated that the other panch witness Shri Francis Fernandes who was not examined is a stock police witness as admitted by him and found reflected in Judgment dated 9-9-2005 of the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Mapusa, in C. C. No. 95/2003/D/B.