SIDHESHWAR SAHU, Vs. THE STATE OF BIHAR (JHARKHAND)

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellants were tried and convicted for the offence under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act and sentenced for violating Sub -section (2)(d) of Section 3 of the Act. While appellants No. 2 and 3 Rajpati Sahu and Radha Krishna Jaiswal were found guilty for abetment and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one year each, appellant No. 1 Sidheshwar Sahu, was convicted for offences under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years by the Special judge, Gumla in G.R. No. 35 of 1987.

(2.) BRIEF facts of the case is that on 2.6.1987, the informant police officer on the basis of a confidential information reached Nagar Siskari at 10.30 a.m. and intercepted a truck bearing Registration No. BRV 4971 and found substantial quantity of wheat and other foodgrains loaded thereon. The driver of the truck along with another person, namely Sidheshwar Sahu (Appellant No. 1) who was travelling in the vehicle, were apprehended. On their purported failure to offer any reasonable explanation or produce any document for possession of 45 bags of wheat, both of them were arrested. They are alleged to have stated before the informant police officer that they had lifted the food grains from the public distribution shop of Radhe Krishna Sahu of Basia (PW3) and Rajpati Sahu appellant No. 2.

(3.) ASSAILING the judgment of conviction and sentence, learned counsel has raised several grounds, prominent amongst which are: