SWAROOP SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present appeal has been filed by appellant- Sawroop Singh against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 01.03.2005 passed by Additional Sessions Judge, Fatehabad, whereby, he has been convicted and sentenced for offence under Section 15 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (here-in-after referred to as 'the Act') and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of ten years and to pay a fine of ' one lac and in case of default of non-payment of fine, he was directed to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year. The said judgment dated 01.03.2005 is a subject matter of challenge in the present appeal.

(2.) Briefly, the facts of the case are that on 15.06.1999, Sub Inspector Gurcharan Singh along with some other police officials was on official duty. A secret information was received that the appellant- Sawroop Singh was dealing in poppy straw at a large scale at Village Sardarewala and in case, a raid is conducted, the same can be recovered from him. An information Exhibit PD was reduced into writing and the same was sent to police station, Ratia for registration of case and FIR was registered as Exhibit PG/1. The police party reached the Village Sardarewala and after associating with one Surinder Singh, reached the house of Sawroop Singh. Appellant-Sawroop Singh made a disclosure statement Exhibit PD/1 and stated that he had kept eight gunny bags containing crushed poppy straw concealed in his room underneath wheat straw under lock and key. Thereafter, the Investigating Officer prepared memo Exhibit PE and an option was given to the accused to get the search made either in the presence of gazetted officer or a Magistrate. The accused gave his option to be searched in the presence of gazetted officer. Deputy Superintendent of Police-Swaran Singh reached the house of the accused after getting information. The room was opened in his presence and eight gunny bags containing poppy straw were found from there. On weighing, each gunny bag was found containing 40 kgs of poppy straw. A sample of 100 grams was separated from each gunny bag and was converted into eight parcels which were sealed with the seal of 'SS'. The remainder poppy straw was also sealed in the same gunny bags with seal of 'SS' and the seal was handed over to witness Surinder Singh. The case property was taken into possession by the Investigating Officer and the accused was arrested. The case property and the accused were brought by the Investigating Officer to the police station Ratia and were produced before Sub Inspector Ramesh Kumar , SHO Police Station, Ratia. The case property was deposited with the Moharrir Head Constable and the samples were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory, Madhuban for analysis which were found to be poppy straw. After investigation, the challan was filed in the Court against the accused appellant and thereafter, the case was committed to the Court of Sessions for trial vide order dated 04.01.2000. The appellant was charge-sheeted for an offence punishable under Section 15 of the Act to which the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

(3.) The prosecution examined as many as six witnesses. Head Constable Tarsem Singh appeared as PW1, Ramesh Kumar-SI as PW2, Inder Singh-Constable as PW3, Sawaran Singh-DSP as PW-4, Sukhbir Singh-HC as PW-5 and Gurcharan Singh-Investigating Officer as PW-6. Statement of accused under Section 313 Cr.P.C was recorded, wherein, he has pleaded his innocence by stating that nothing was recovered from his possession and he has falsely been implicated. In defence evidence, the accused examined Nimbu Singh-Chowkidar as DW-1 and Constable Suraj Bhan as DW-2.