SANJAY KUMAR KUSHWAHA Vs. THE STATE OF JHARKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The instant Criminal Appeal has been preferred against the judgment of conviction dtd. 24/5/2004 and order of sentence dtd. 25/5/2004, passed by learned Sessions Judge, Dhanbad, in Special Case No. 14 of 2001, whereby the sole appellant has been convicted for the offence committed and punishable under Sec. 20 (b) (i) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, 1985 and has been awarded rigorous imprisonment for four years with a fine of Rs.10,000.00 and in default of payment of fine amount, to undergo simple imprisonment for three months.

(2.) The brief facts of the case is that on 8/7/2001, Sarvjit Narayan Jha, Sub-Inspector of Excise was returning from Baliapur. He got information from an unknown person that Sanjay Kumar Kushwaha (accused) is selling Ganja in his gumti situated in the east of Kalpana Talkies Cinema. On such information, the informant reached to the place of occurrence and found that shopkeeper Sanjay Kumar Kushwaha (appellant) was selling Ganja in his shop to a customer namely Satyendra Singh. The informant conducted a raid in the shop and seized some plastic packets containing Ganja from the shop of the appellant. One packet contained 45 grams of Ganja, ten packets of three grams of Ganja, ten packets of five grams of Ganja and eight packets of two grams of Ganja, total 141 grams of Ganja. The seizure was prepared in the presence of Birendra Singh (P.W. 4) and Raju Singh (P.W. 1), independent witnesses. Out of 141 grams of Ganja, the informant prepared one packet of 10 grams of Ganja and two packet of five gram of Ganja, total 20 grams of Ganja, for sending it to the Forensic Science Laboratory and the rest of 121 grams of Ganja, was sealed in a container upon which the appellant has not put his seal as he was not having the same but has put his signature.

(3.) On the basis of the statement of the informant, Special Case No. 14 of 2001 was registered. The accused was disclosed about his rights to get his statement recorded by the Magistrate but the accused/appellant has denied to do so. The defence of the accused is complete denial of recovery of Ganja from the gumti belonging to the accused.