PIPAL SINGH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this judgment, we intend to dispose of three criminal appeals, i.e. Crl. Appeal No. 298-SB of 2000 (Pipal Singh v. Union of India through Inspector Custom, Ferozepur), Crl. Appeal No. 303-SB of 2000 (Satnam Singh v. Union of India through Inspector Customs, Ferozepur) and Crl. Appeal No. 324-SB of 2000 (Ajaib Singh and another v. Inspector Customs, Ferozepur), as all these appeals have arisen from a common judgment dated 12.6.2000 passed by Special Judge, Ferozepur, who convicted Ajaib Singh, Satnam Singh alias Satta and Gurmej Singh under Section 22 of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') and Pipal Singh under Section 23 of the Act. All the four appellants have been sentenced to undergo RI for fifteen years each and to pay a fine of Rs. 1 lac each. In default of payment of fine, each of the appellants to further undergo RI for one year.

(2.) THE brief diary of the prosecution case is that a complaint was filed by Inspector Customs, Ferozepur in his official duty before the concerned Court on the allegations that on 6.1.1996, he received a secret information that brown powder i.e heroin of Pak origin was being transported from village Peer Berian, district Ferozepur. After the reciept of a secret information, a joint Naka of the officials of the Custom Department Ferozepur and the police officials was laid. The joint Naka party consisted of Sarvshri Sukhjinder Singh, Inspector Customs, Ferozepur, Rajinder Pal Inspector Police, Police Station Ferozepur, Kishori Lal and other police and custom officials. It was laid near Polytechnic College Ferozepur City when at about 9.30 P.M. on the said day, a truck bearing number DL-IG-3360 was seen coming towards Ferozepur City from the side of village Dulchi Ke and it was given signal to stop, but the driver of the truck speeded up. The second naka party had also given signal to the truck driver to stop the truck, but the driver did not care for it and, consequently the naka party had started firing in the air in order to get the truck stopped. It consequently stopped. It was then surrounded by police officials and the custom staff. Three persons, namely, Satnam Singh alias Satta, Ajaib Singh and Gurmej Singh (appellants) who were present in the said truck were apprehended at the spot. Ajaib Singh appellant was found driving the truck, whereas Gurmej Singh and Satnam Singh were sitting in the said truck. Gurmej Singh was found to be the owner of the said truck. On search of the truck, a gunny bag was found placed in the cabin of the truck and, on search of the said gunny bag, 39 packets, each containing one kilogram of brown powder i.e. heroin, thus, totalling 39 kgs. 850 grams of brown power (said to be heroin) of Pak origin was recovered from the said truck. Four batches of 39 intact packets were made and the representative sample of the contraband was taken from each batch and another sample was taken from the loose packet of 850 grams (5th batch). The other legal formalities were also carried out at the spot. The entire case property, including the truck, was taken into possession by the custom authorities.

(3.) IT is worth mentioning here that on 24.1.1996 an application was moved by the Custom Officer Ferozepur under Section 104 of the Custom Act before the Duty Magistrate, Ferozepur for permission to arrest Pipal Singh appellant and, consequently after obtaining the warrants of arrest, Pipal Singh appellant was arrested. During his interrogation, he also made a statement before the Custom Officer on 25.1.1996 and 26.1.1996 that he was involved in the transportation of the heroin allegedly recovered from the other three appellants. He also admitted that one person of Pakistan known as "Kali" had links with him and he had supplied the said packets to him. The case of the custom department is that they made all the efforts to arrest Pargat Singh of Amritsar and Harjinder Singh of Hoshiarpur, but incidently, they could not be arrested, as the addresses furnished by the present appellants were not found to be correct. After the committal proceedings by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ferozepur, the present case was heard by Special Judge and all the appellants were charge-sheeted under Sections 22, 23 and 24 of the Act. On a consideration of entire evidence, the Special Judge has convicted and sentenced all the four appellants as indicated above.