LALCHHANCHHUAHA Vs. STATE OF MIZORAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Criminal Appeal is directed against the Judgment and Order dtd. 14/9/2022 and Sentence Order dtd. 15/9/2022 passed by the learned Judge, Special Court, ND&PS Act, Aizawl, Mizoram in S.R. No. 56 of 2018 arising out of Excise and Narcotics Case No. N-172 of 2017 under Sec. 22(b)/22(c) of ND&PS Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as the ND&PS Act), whereby the accused/appellant was convicted and sentenced under Sec. 22(b) of the ND&PS Act, to undergo 10 (ten) months rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs.3000.00, in default, for another period of one month rigorous imprisonment and further sentenced under Sec. 22(c) of ND&PS Act, to undergo 10 (ten) years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs.1.00 lakh, in default for another period of one year rigorous imprisonment.

(2.) The prosecution story is that a team of officials from the Excise Department, Mizoram, who were on duty at Hunthar Veng, Aizawl, upon noticing the accused/appellant standing on the roadside alongwith his Scooty, upon suspicion, conducted a search of the said Scooty in the presence of witnesses and recovered a large number of tablets and bottles consisting of (i) 16 bottles of Kuffcare-T containing codeine phosphate, (ii) 5 bottles of Cocas 500 grams of codeine phosphate, (iii) 205 tablets of Aprasil 26.2 grams of Alprazolam and (iv) 200 capsules of Tramadol (Fortaspas) upon search of the bag (rucksack) being carried on the scooter of the accused/appellant.

(3.) Accordingly, seizure list was prepared and the seized articles were produced before the Magistrate, alongwith application for certification as per Sec. 52-A of the ND&PS Act, 1985. Inventory of the seized articles was also prepared and after further steps in the investigation such as chemical examination of the samples of the seized articles and recording the statement of the witnesses, the Investigating Officer (I.O) submitted the charge-sheet under Sec. 22(b)/22(c) of the ND&PS Act, against the accused/appellant person.