DASARATHA ALIAS JITENDRA PANDEY Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant has preferred this appeal against the order of conviction dated 28.2.1996 in S.T. No. 3/31 of 1995 of the Court of Second Additional Sessions Judge, Bhubaneswar. He has been convicted for the offence under Section 18 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (in short, 'N.D.P.S. Act') and he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees one lakh).

(2.) This appeal has undergone hearing at two different stages in as much as after conclusion of argument, judgment was reserved on 20.6.2000, but later on the case was again listed as being mentioned under the caption 'to be mentioned'. At that stage, upon further hearing the parties, the concerned Investigating Officer was noticed to have his say relating to the faulty investigation and inaccurate steps taken. The concerned Investigating Officer appeared through counsel and advanced his argument. Further hearing was completed on 19.9.2001.

(3.) The fact involved in the case, in short, is that the appellant being involved in several other criminal cases, was in jail custody and as he escaped from the jail, therefore, police was in search of him. On 11.10.1994 at about 8.20 P.M. the Sub-Inspector of Badagada Police Station (P.W. 1) got the V.H.F. message from the City Police Control Room, Bhubaneswar, that the appellant in a white Contessa car was proceeding from Balakati side. All other police-stations under Bhubaneswar were made alert in that manner. When the vehicle came and moved ahead at a high speed, it was chased by P.W. No. 1 and his associates in police jeep, and on the public road close to the Fly-over (bridge) situated near Hotel Kenilworth that car could be intercepted. The appellant with another came out from the car and tried to escape by running away from the spot. In that process he fell down and was caught. He was searched to find if he was in possession of any weapon of offence or objectionable articles and, per chance, a polythene packet containing opium was recovered, which the appellant had kept on his feet underneath the socks. P.W. No. 1 got the opium weighed and it came to 22 grams 900 miligrams. He seized the same under seizure List, Ext. 2. Amongst the police officers present at the spot, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, viz., Harihar Apat was also present. His brass seal was used in the process of keeping the seized opium under proper seal. According to the prosecution, besides P.W. Nos. 1, 3 and 6 as the member of the raid party, P.W. Nos. 4 and 5 were the two independent witnesses to the search and seizure and P.W. No. 2 was the goldsmith who came and made weighment of the seized opium and also kept in his custody the brass seal of the D.S.P. According to the prosecution, though besides the above witnesses other police officers and staff were present at the spot when the appellant was intercepted and searched and opium was seized from him, but at the time of trial only the aforesaid six witnesses were examined by the prosecution.