STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH Vs. MUKHTYAR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The State has filed the present application seeking leave to appeal against the judgment dtd. 30/3/2024 passed by learned Special Judge, Sarkaghat, District Mandi, H.P. (learned Trial Court) vide which the respondent (accused before the learned Trial Court) was acquitted of the commission of an offence punishable under Sec. 20 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (for short NDPS Act).(The parties shall hereinafter be referred to in the same manner as they were arrayed before the learned Trial Court for convenience).

(2.) Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present application are that police presented a Challan against the accused before the learned Trial Court for the commission of an offence punishable under Sec. 20 of the NDPS Act. It was asserted that HC Vijay Kumar (PW-12), HC Sarwan Kumar (PW-11), Constable Sanjay Kumar (PW-3) and HHG Pushp Kumar were present near HRTC Petrol Pump, Bus Stand Sarkaghat for patrolling. Entry No. 15 (Ext.P22/PW13) was recorded in the Police Station regarding their departure. The accused climbed the stairs near the petrol pump carrying a green backpack(Ext.MO-02) in his right hand. He became frightened on seeing the police and went inside a shop. He threw some articles towards the water tank kept inside the shop. He went to another room inside the shop and threw the remaining articles in the drain from the window. Police became suspicious on the conduct of the accused. Vikas Thakur (PW-7) and Kishore Kumar (PW-6) were found outside the shop. They and HC Sarwan Kumar (PW-11) were associated as witnesses. The police apprehended the accused.He revealed his name as Mukhtiyar Singh @ Banty. H.C.Vijay Kumar (PW-4) searched the place behind the water tank and recovered black sticks. These were checked and were found to be Charas. These were weighed on an electronic weighing scale and their weight was found to be 31 grams. The police went towards the drain and found some other black sticks. These were also checked and were found to be cannabis. The said contraband was also weighd and found to be 228 grams. A memo of identification (Ext.P11/PW11) was prepared. The cannabis (Ext. MO-3) was put in a carry bag (Ext.MO-2). The carry bag (Ext.MO-2) was put in a cloth parcel (Ext. MO-1) and the parcel was sealed with three seals of SKTB. A sample seal (Ext. P12/PW11) was taken on a piece of cloth. NCB-I Form (Ext.P19/PW12) was prepared. A seal impression was put on the NCB-I form and the seal was handed over to Vikas Thakur (PW-7) after its use. HC Sarwan Kumar (PW-11) took the photographs(Ext. P13/PW11 to Ext.P15/PW11). The police seized the charas vide memo (Ext.P16/PW11). HC Vijay Kumar (PW-4) wrote the rukka (Ext.P20/PW12) and handed it over to HC Sarwan Kumar(PW-11) with directions to carry it to the Police Station Sarkaghat. HC Sarwan Kumar (PW-11) handed over the rukka to Raj Kumar (PW-13), who recorded the F.I.R. (Ext.P21/PW13). Raj Kumar (PW-13) conducted the further investigation. He visited the spot. HC Vijay Kumar (PW-4) handed over the case property and documents to Raj Kumar (PW-13) vide memo (Ext. P17/PW11). Raj Kumar prepared the spot map (Ext. P23/PW13) and arrested the accused vide memo (Ext. P24/PW13). Raj Kumar (PW-13) recorded the statements of witnesses as per their version. He carried the case property to the police station and handed it over to Satish Kumar (PW-9). Satish Kumar resealed the parcel with four seals imprssion of seal SK. He obtained the sample seal(Ext. P9/PW9) on a separate piece of cloth and issued a certificate (Ext.P9/PW9). He filled in the relevant columns of the NCB-I form and put the seal impression on the form. He handed over the case property to HASI Vinod Kumar (PW-5), who deposited the case property in Malkhana and made an entry at Sr.830/2018 (Ext.P4/PW5). He handed over the case property to Raj Kumar (PW-13) on 8/10/2018 for certification. Raj Kumar (PW-13) produced the case property before the Court alongwith an application (Ext.P31/PW13) and inventory (Ext.P32/PW13) for its certification. Learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Sarkaghat passed an order (Ext.P33/PW-13) and issued the certificate (ExtP34/PW13). The Court resealed the parcel and obtained the sample seal (Ext.P35/PW13) on a separate piece of cloth. The case property was deposited with HASI Vinod Kumar (PW-5), who deposited it in Malkhana. HASI Vinod Kumar (PW-5) handed over the case property and the documents to Constable Parveen Kumar (PW-1) on 9/10/2018 with the direction to carry them to FSL Junga vide RC No. 218/18 (Ext. P5/PW5). He deposited all the articles at FSL Junga and handed over the receipt to HASI Vinod Kumar (PW-5) on his return. A special report (Ext.P7/PW8) was prepared and handed over to Constable Sanjay Kumar (PW-3) with the direction to carry it to SDPO Sarkagarh. He handed over the Special Report to DySP Chander Paul (PW-8) on 08/10/2018, at about 4:40 p.m. Chander Pal made an endorsement on the Special Report and handed it over to his Reader HC Sandeep (PW-2), who made the entry in the Special Register Ext.PW2/PW2 and retained it on record. The result of the analysis (Ext.P30/PW13) was issued which showed that the exhibit was an extract of cannabis and a sample of charas. The statements of the remaining witnesses were recorded as per their version and after the completion of the investigation, a challan was prepared and presented before the learned Trial Court.

(3.) The learned Trial Court charged the accused with the commission of an offence punishable under Sec. 20 of the NDPS Act to which the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.