SADHU SINGH KEHAR SINGH Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a revision petition by Sadhu Singh who has been convicted under Section 9 of the Opium Act and sentenced to one and a half year's rigorous imprisonment.

(2.) THE prosecution story is that in consequence of secret information Sub-Inspector Ajit Singh of the Police Station Khalra organised a party which included Madan Lal and Sardul Shigh P. Ws, members of the public, and went to the house of Sadhu Singh, a young man of 25, early on the morning of the 16th of April 1964. It is alleged that on interrogation Sadhu Singh disclosed that he had two kilos of opium in a tin box in his trunk. He then opened the trunk and took out the tin box which actually contained two kilos of opium wrapped in a piece of cloth.

(3.) THE accused denied his guilt and said that a false case had been brought against him because his father Kehar Singh, who is a lambardar, had refused to support a false case against one Tara Singh. The details of this alleged incident were related by Kehar Singh Lambardar who also stated that he and his brother Teja Singh and his sons Sadhu Singh and Avatar Singh jointly lived in the house where the opium was alleged to have been recovered. This was also supported by other defence witnesses, but the prosecution story has been believed by the trial Court and by the learned Additional Sessions Judge.