CHARANJIT SINGH @ GOSHA Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Vide this common order CRA-S No.1242-SB of 2003 and CRA-S No.1792-SB of 2003 are being decided as both the appeals have arisen out of the common judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 13.06.2003 passed by the Judge, Special Court, Mansa vide which accused/appellants were convicted under Section 15 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (hereinafter to be referred as 'the Act') and were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and to pay fine of Rs.1,00,000/- each. In default of payment of fine, the accused were to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for six months. Co-accused Beeru Singh has died. The factum of his death has been verified, therefore, the appeal qua him stands abated.

(2.) The prosecution story started with the allegations that on 05.04.2001, the Investigating Officer ASI Surjit Singh along with other police officials was on patrolling duty in a government canter driven by Constable Harvinder Singh. When they reached on the pucca road, then one person namely Ram Singh took a lift upto village Joga. When the police party crossed about 100 karams from Jai Durga Maisar Mandir, then from the side of village Ralla at about 5.30 a.m. one pickup van of white colour came from village Ubha side in a very fast speed. On suspicion ASI Surjit Singh stopped his canter in the middle of the road and with the help of other police officials, got the van stopped. The driver of the van disclosed his name as Gurmail Gir. Occupant on front seat towards left hand side of the driver, disclosed his name as Charanjit Singh @ Gosha. On the back seat, a lady was found sitting and she disclosed her name to be Gejo w/o Beeru Singh. ASI Surjit Singh checked the van and found that towards left side of Gejo, a gunny bag was lying. In the dicky of the van, four gunny bags were lying. On suspicion ASI Surjit Singh told the occupants of the car one by one that he had some suspicion in respect of presence of some contraband in the van and, therefore, these bags were required to be searched. He informed the occupants about their right of search of the bags in the presence of any Gazetted Officer or the Magistrate. All the three occupants agreed and replied that the bags lying in the van could be searched in the presence of gazetted officer. Consent memo was prepared in the presence of all the three persons. ASI Surjit Singh informed police control room for sending some gazetted officer along with lady police official. At about 6.50 a.m., Sh. Balwinder singh Ramana, DSP along with his gunmen and lady constables namely Karamjit Kaur and Sukhraj Kaur reached at the spot in the government vehicle. ASI Surjit Singh apprised the DSP about the facts of the case. DSP told Gurmail Gir, Charanjit Singh and Gejo about his identity and told them that he had a suspicion about the contents of five gunny bags in their possession to be containing some contraband, therefore, the bags were required to be checked. He also told the accused that they had a right of search of bags in the presence of any gazetted officer or magistrate. All the three persons one by one replied that the bags be searched at the spot.

(3.) Asi Surjit Singh prepared the documents and the witnesses attested the same on the instructions of DSP Balwinder Singh Ramana. Investigating Officer Surjit Singh opened the mouth of the five bags and bags were found containing poppy straw. The samples of 100 grams each were separated from each bag and the remaining contraband after weighment came to be 35 kgs. each. The bags were tied with the string. All the five samples and five bags were separately sealed with the seal of 'SS'. The sample seal was separately prepared and the seal after use was handed over to the witness Ram Singh. The case property along with the van was taken into police possession and the documents were attested by the witnesses. Thereafter ruqa was sent to the police station for registration of the case. The site plan was prepared by the Investigating Officer and the statements of the witnesses were recorded. The accused persons were arrested. On personal search, currency notes of Rs.400/- were recovered from Charanjit Singh and Rs.200/- in the denomination of Rs.10/- were recovered from Smt. Gejo. Six currency notes in the denomination of Rs.10/- were recovered from Gurmail Gir. One wrist watch was also recovered from his possession. Investigating Officer handed over the case property along with the accused to SI/SHO Kesar Singh, who checked the case property and interrogated the accused persons. He also affixed his seal 'KS' on the samples and the case property. The accused persons along with the case property were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate on 06.04.2001. The Court made the endorsement of seen. There was no space in the judicial malkhana, therefore, the case property was taken back to the police station and was kept by SHO in his supervision. The accused were detained in the police lockup. The samples were sent through road vide certificate No.65 dated 09.04.2001 to Forensic Science Laboratory, Punjab, Chandigarh through constable Rajwinder Singh. On 10.04.2001, the samples were deposited in the Forensic Science Laboratory. On receipt of report of FSL, the contraband was found to be poppy straw. The vehicle was found to be under the ownership of Beeru Singh, therefore, Beeru Singh was arrested under Section 25 of the Act.