HIRA SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND ANOTHER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal has been preferred against impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 17.10.2012 passed by the Court of learned Judge, Special Court, Amritsar vide which he had convicted accused-Hira Singh for an offence under Section 21 read with Section 8 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Act, 1985 ("the Act"- for short) and had sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for fifteen years and to pay fine of Rs.1,50,000/-, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years.

(2.) The accused-convict, who is appellant before this Court prays that the appeal filed by him be accepted, the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence be set aside and he be acquitted of the charge framed against him.

(3.) Briefly stated, the prosecution story is that Intelligence Officer, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (Sub Unit) M-I/C, Green Avenue, Amritsar ("DRI"- for short) had brought a complaint under Sections 21, 23, 25, 28, 29 and 60 of the Act against Hira Singh-accused. Inter alia in the complaint it is contended that on 23.03.2009 in the area near Chheharta Sahib Gurudwara, Amritsar, at about 8:00 p.m. a Bajaj Chetak scooter No.PB-02-AA-1130 was spotted coming from Baba Budha Sahib side, which was intercepted by a raiding team of DRI, which was keeping surveillance on the said road having specific intelligence. The time was about 8:00 p.m., the scooter was being driven by accused-Hira Singh. On being questioned, accused-Hira Singh admitted that he was carrying ten packets of narcotic substance in a cloth Vansali placed on the front portion of the scooter on the floor mat near the foot brake. Sh. Ramesh Sharma, Senior Intelligence Officer disclosed his identity to the accused telling him that he was a Gazetted Officer. Notice under Section 50 of the Act was served upon accused-Hira Singh in the presence of witnesses namely Wilsy son of Picky and Rocky son of Kingnobel informing him about his legal right to get his personal search as well as search of scooter conducted in the presence of a Gazetted Officer or a Magistrate. Accused-Hira Singh opted to get his search and that of scooter conducted before any Gazetted Officer. He gave that option in writing on the notice itself. He had requested DRI Officer that his personal search and that of his scooter be conducted at a safer place, keeping in view high value of contraband and threats to his life since place of interception was a public place. Accordingly, Hira Singh-accused along with his scooter and Panch witnesses were taken to DRI Office at M-1/C, Green Avenue, Amritsar. Personal search of Hira Singh-accused was conducted there in the presence of Sh. Ramesh Sharma, Gazetted Officer as well as Panch witnesses and one Nokia mobile phone with No.97815-19151 along with SIM was found. Thereafter, scooter of accused bearing registration No.PB-02-AA-1130 was conducted. From front dickey of the scooter, some packets of Indian Currency, which on counting were of the value of Rs.4 lacs were found, besides, registration certificate of the scooter. A blue colour long cloth Vansali placed on front portion of the scooter on the front mat of it near the foot brake was recovered, which was found to be stitched on one end and the other end was found to be tied with the help of small jute string was untied and blue colour long cloth Vansali was found to contain packets wrapped in yellow adhesive type. Packets were taken out from the cloth Vansali which were 10 in numbers, those were serially marked as A to J for the purpose of identification and were weighted one by one, it was found that final packing of each was of transparent polythene and each packet was containing off-white granules/powder. The polythene packing on being opened, pungent smell came out of the contents. The DRI Officer after taking a pinch of off-white granules/powder from each of the ten packets tested the contents of each of the packet one by one with the drug testing kit which gave positive indication for presence of Heroin. The contents of each packets when weighted come out to be 10.012 kg. On being inquired, the accused disclosed that 10 packets containing the contraband were handed over to him by two persons on 23.03.2009 for further transporting and handing over to a person by name of Hari Singh, who was known to him. Hira Singh-accused further informed that he was to be paid Rs.50,000/- by Hari Singh after the contraband was delivered to him. He had not been paid any money till then. As regards amount of Rs.4 lacs recovered from scooter, Hira Singh told that money was handed over to him by Hari Singh for onwards delivery to the persons from whom narcotic drugs were to be taken but those persons did not accept the money saying that the same was short and told him to keep the same in his scooter and asked him to move along with narcotic drugs and Rs.4 lacs in his scooter towards Chheharta and they would follow him on separate scooters and would accept this money only after meeting and talking with Hari Singh. The value of the seized contraband i.e. Heroin was assessed to be around Rs.50,06,000/-. The DRI Officer drew two representative samples of 5 grams from each packets which were marked A1-A2, B1-B2 so on upto J1-J2 corresponding to number marked on the mother packets, from which, these were drawn. The sample of 5 grams Heroin was placed in a transparent press lock ploythene envelope which was kept in white paper envelopes and sealed with seal of "DIRECTORATE OF REVENUE INTELLIGENCE ASR" over the paper slips bearing signatures of Panchs, DRI Officer and thumb impression of Hira Singh-accused. The Officer then repacked the contents of each of above ten packets by transferring it back into the same mother packing from which it had been taken out for weighing and testing purposes and were sealed with the same seal impressions in the same manner. The packets were then placed in a tin box which was properly locked. The packets were further wrapped and sealed with the same seal. The DRI officer also seized Indian currency notes on the reasonable belief that same were consideration money for carrying/transporting/handling the seized Heroin and were also taken into custody. Necessary documents were prepared, statement of Hira Singhaccused was recorded under Section 67 of the Act, in which, he admitted the mode and factum of recovery of the above contraband along with currency notes and explained other things regarding his acquaintance with Hari Singh etc. Seized Heroin and currency notes along with representative samples were deposited with Customs House Malkhana, Amritsar on 25.03.2009 with seals intact. As a follow up action, search of Hira Singh's residential house at his village was carried out but nothing incriminating could be recovered. One of the samples was sent by hand through Swaran Singh, Hawaldar DRI to the CRCL, New Delhi and report therefrom was received as per following details:- <FRM>JUDGEMENT_285_LAWS(P&H)5_2017_1.html</FRM>