BAIKUNTHANATH SITHA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant here in this appeal, assails the judgment and order of conviction and sentence passed against him by the learned Sessions Judge, Koraput, Jeypore, in Sessions Case No. 226 of 1991. The learned trial court vide the impugned judgment and order of conviction and sentence held the appellant guilty of the charge under Section 20(b)(i) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (for short "the N.D.P.S. Act") and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,000/-, in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for four months more. The prosecution came to the trial Court with a case that one Sanatan Panigrahi (P.W. 7), the then Officer-in-Charge of Kalimela Police Station, on 17.9.1990, at about 9.20 A.M received a reliable information about trafficking of 'Ganja' in village M.P.V. 23. To verify the information, he proceeded to the village and on his arrival in the village, he found the appellant loitering in front of the hotel of one Subash Haldar (P.W. 2) located near the bus stop carrying an attache (M.O. I) and one Air Bag (M.O. III). On being asked, the appellant told that he was carrying 'Ganja' in the attache (M.O. I). Hence, P.W. 7 opened the attache (M.O. I) in presence of the witnesses with the key in possession of the appellant and found the same containing six kilograms of 'Ganja'. He made seizure of the attache (M.O. I) with 'Ganja' along with its key and the Air Bag (M.O. III) vide Seizure list (Ext. 1) and sealed the attache (M.O. I) in presence of the witnesses with the 'Ganja', drew plain paper FIR (Ext. 6) at the spot and brought the appellant along with the seized articles to the police station. Thereafter, on the next day P.W. 7 intimated the Circle Inspector of Police, Malkangiri about the detection of 'Ganja' and on 14.10.1990 in presence of the witnesses he opened the attache (M.O. I) and collected 500 grams of 'Ganja' out of it in a polythene bag (M.O. II) and produced the same through Havildar A. Patra (P.W. 8) before the Inspector of Excise, Malkangiri (P.W. 5) for examination, who after examining the same opined the same to be 'Ganja' vide Ext. 4. Again on 13.11.1990, P.W. 7 collected sample of 200 grams of 'Ganja' from the attache (M.O. I) in a polythene bag, which was sent for chemical examination to State Forensic Science Laboratory at Bhubaneswar for chemical examination vide forwarding letter of J.M.F.C. (Ext. 8) and the chemical examination report (Ext. 9) confirmed the same to be 'Ganja'. On completion of investigation, final form was filed against the appellant for alleged commission of offence punishable under Section 20(b)(i) of the N.D.P.S. Act for trafficking of 'Ganja' in violation of Section 8(c) of the N.D.P.S. Act.

(2.) Taking into consideration the aforesaid case of the prosecution which was supported by the material on record collected during investigation, the trial court framed the charge against the appellant for alleged commission of offence punishable under Section 20(b)(i) of the N.D.P.S. Act. As the appellant denied the charge, prosecution examined eight witnesses and also exhibited certain documents and the material objects to bring home the charge against the appellant. The appellant though had taken a plea of denial, but adduced no independent rebuttal evidence to substantiate his plea.

(3.) On conclusion of trial, basically relying on the evidence of P.W. 7 and other official witnesses and also the evidence with regard to chemical examination, the trial Court returned the judgment and order of conviction and sentence as stated earlier.