BISWANATH DAS AND ANOTHER Vs. STATE OF ASSAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal against the judgment and order dated 03.06.2010 passed by the learned Special Judge, Kokrajhar, in Special Case No. 01/2009 convicting the appellant under Sec. 20(ii)(C) of NDPS Act and sentencing them thereby to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and also to pay a fine of Rs. 100,000.00 lakh each, in default, further rigorous imprisonment for 2 years each.

(2.) Heard Mr. H. Hoque, learned Amicus Curiae and Mrs. A. Begum, learned Addl. Public Prosecutor, Assam.

(3.) The prosecution story, in brief, is that on 01.07.2009 at about 5:00 p.m. the accused Biswanath Das and Adari Das were noticed by the people at Gossaigaon bus stand. They had three bags in their possession which were suspected to contain ganja. The head constable Shri Lakhi Kanta Boro, who was on duty at Gosaigaon bus stand was immediately informed who in turn lodged an information over telephone to Police at Gossaigaon Police Station. The information so, lodged by the head constable was entered in the general diary entry and S.I. Tapas Kr. Das was endorsed to investigate the matter. Accordingly, Tapas Kr. Das (PW-12) came to the Gossaigaon bus stand and found the accused persons along with three gunny bags which contained ganja. PW-12 immediately informed the Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Gosaigaon, who along with Officer-in-Charge of the Police Station also arrived at the place of occurrence. He (PW-12) was then authorised by the SDPO to investigate the case. The suspected contraband ganja was seized by PW-12 in presence of witnesses. It was weighted and found that three bags contained 57 k.g of contraband ganja. Samples drawn from the seized ganja were sent to forensic laboratory for examination.