DIPTI DAS Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By filing the instant appeal, the appellant has sought to assail the judgment of conviction dated February 29, 2020 and the order of sentence dated March 04, 2020 passed by learned 4th Additional Sessions Judge, Alipur in Sessions Trial No. 6(03) of 2016 arising out of Sessions Case No. 11(9) of 2015 convicting the appellant under Ss. 20(b)(ii)(c)/29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act,1985.

(2.) On April 10, 2015, the de facto complainant lodged a complaint with the Officer-in-charge, Behala P.S. to the effect that on April 10, 2015 at about 08.00hrs, he received source information that one male and a female person would come to sell Narcotic Drugs in the Kailash Pandit Lane. Accordingly, being duly permitted by the Assistant Commissioner, Narcotic Drug Cell, Detective Department, he prepared to conduct raid. On April 10, 2015 at about 09.30hrs, the de facto complainant along with the raiding team and taking the weighing scale, testing kit, packing materials along with the source, proceeded to the spot. At about 10.30 hrs, they reached near a shop styled as 'Super Mondal Tailors ' at Kailash Pandit Lane, Kolkata-53. The source led the team to the spot and they started maintaining watch, hiding themselves. At about 11 a.m., the source pointed to one male and one female person coming along Kailash Pandit Lane, both carrying jute shopper bags in their hands. The aforesaid persons were apprehended with the help of the raiding team and lady police, in front of the said shop of 'Super Mondal Tailors '. The raiding party disclosed their identity and the reason for their detention. Some local people assembled in the meantime, whom, the de facto complainant requested to stand witnesses to search and seizure. Two of the persons amongst the assembled persons volunteered to stand witness. The detained persons disclosed their identities as Dipti Das and Bapan Das. The de facto complainant served written options to both the detained persons informing their legal right to be searched either in presence of a Magistrate or a Gazetted Officer, to which, both of them opted to be searched in presence of the Gazetted Officer. The de facto complainant tried to find out a Gazetted Officer in the locality and having failed to find one, he informed his superior officer. At about 12.10 hrs, inspector Shivsankar Roy, additional officer-in-charge of Behala P.S. arrived at the place of occurrence in uniform and who introduced himself to both the detainees to be a Gazetted Officer.

(3.) The detained persons searched the de facto complainant and the lady police prior to their search but nothing, except personal belongings could be found. Thereafter, the lady Police Officer Kuheli Sarkar searched the female detainee and found a jute shopper bag which was handed over to the de facto complainant. The said bag contained two black coloured polythene packets which were recovered from the jute bag. One of the polythene packets contained thirty-nine pieces of deep brown coloured solid lumps of 'charas ' having the characteristic smell, weighing about 1 kg, 300 gm. The second polythene packet contained cash money amounting to Rupees One Lakh and Eighty Thousand only as Sale proceeds of the contraband.