DEVID UKPAKA Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal has been preferred by the convicted accused through jail challenging his conviction on three counts viz. under section 8 (c) read with section 21 of the N.D.P.S. Act, under section 23 of the N.D.P.S. Act and under section 135 (1) (a) and 135 (1) (ii) of the Customs Act.

(2.) IN short, the prosecution case, runs as under :

(3.) DEFENCE of the accused was that the bag in which heroin was found did not belong to him, and according to him, there was no number of baggage, and consequently, no baggage number on his ticket, and therefore, he could not be connected with the baggage. This argument was turned down by the trial Court and we have also no option to turn down it because the prosecution has succeeded in proving that the baggage in which heroin was found was of the accused and was of no one else. Admittedly the accused had a pass port and he was a passenger about to travel by Zambian Airlines Flight No. QZ 081. His documents were checked at customs counter by the customs officer. On his air ticket and other documents a noting was made that he had baggage with weight of 13 kgs . On the boarding pass, which was found with the accused, No. 111 was noted and this was the same number which was on the Passengers' Manifest. Further, the writing on the suit case, that was found by the officers, bearing baggage Tag No. 52146 with Sr. No. 111 of the Passengers' Manifest, indicates that the suit case was checked in by the Passenger at Sr. No. 111 of the Passengers' Manifest and the Passengers' Manifest, in turn, shows the name of accused/appellant at Sr. No. 111. There is, therefore, clinching evidence with the prosecution to prove that the baggage in which the heroin was found belongs to the accused and no one else. The trial Court, therefore, rightly convicted the accused.