- (1.) The present appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 18.10.2006 passed by the High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh in Criminal Appeal No. 505-SB of 2000, whereby the High Court dismissed the appeal filed by Hardip Singh and upheld the conviction and the sentence passed against him under the provisions of Section 18 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act').
(2.) Briefly, the prosecution case is that on 20.8.1997 when Inspector Jarnail Singh (examined as PW 5 in the trial), along with SI Sukhwinder Singh and other police officials were standing on a drain bridge falling within the jurisdiction of village Chamairi, a truck bearing registration No. DIG 4615 being driven by Sri Inder Masih was seen coming from Ajnala side, when the truck was stopped. Hardip Singh, the present appellant, was seen sitting by the side of the driver, in the said truck. Meanwhile one Major Singh, who was examined as one of the witnesses in the trial also reached there on a bicycle and upon reaching the place he alighted from the bicycle and joined the police party. Immediately thereafter Inspector Jarnail Singh sent a wireless message to SS Mann, Deputy Superintendent of Police (PW 4), requesting him to reach the place of occurrence, who after receiving the message immediately reached at the place of occurrence. Thereafter consent memos (Ex. PB & PC) were prepared to show compliance of Section 50 of the Act, which were signed/thumb marked by the appellant and attested by the witnesses including PW 4. On the instruction of PW 4, the DSP, Inspector Jarnail Singh conducted search of the appellant Hardip Singh and upon such search one bag in the right hand of Hardip Singh was found and on search of the said bag, it was found to contain opium wrapped in a glazed paper. The aforesaid opium, thereafter was weighed and on such weighing it was found that there was total of 7 Kgs of opium out of which 250 gms of opium was taken as a sample in one parcel and the remaining quantity of opium being 6.750 Kgs. was put in another parcel. After preparing two separate parcels, the same were sealed with the seals bearing inscriptions 'SSM' and 'JS' of SS Mann, DSP and Inspector Jarnail Singh respectively. The sealed parcels were taken into possession vide recovery memo, Ex. PD, attested by the witnesses. Thereafter the search of the driver, namely, Inder Masih was also conducted, in whose possession also 3 kgs. of opium was found, for which two parcels were made out, one of 250 gms. and the other of 2.750 kgs. The said parcels were sealed and were taken into possession vide recovery memo, Ex. PE, attested by the same witnesses. From the personal search of Hardip Singh ten currency notes of the denomination of Rs. 10/- were recovered. These were also taken into possession by making out a memo, Ex. PH. Similarly, the truck bearing No. DIG 4615 was also taken into possession vide memo, Ex. PJ. Ruqqa, Ex. PK, was sent on the basis of which First Information Report (Ex. PK/1) was recorded. A rough site-plan was also prepared at the spot. Thereafter, the present appellant along with Inder Masih and the case property was produced before Inspector Baldev Singh, the then Station House Officer (SHO), Police Station Ajnala, who verified the investigation and kept the said articles in his possession. On 30.9.1997 he sent the two parcels of sample for getting the same deposited in the office of the Chemical Examiner, Amritsar through ASI Surinder Singh (PW-3). As per the report of the Analyst, the contents of the sample parcels were found to be of opium. On completion of the investigation a charge sheet was filed under the provisions of Section 18 of the Act.
(3.) The learned Sub Divisional Magistrate, Ajnala committed the case for trial to the learned Court of Sessions Judge. Under order dated 4.3.1998, the learned Sessions Judge, Amritsar framed charges against both the accused under the provisions of Section 18 of the Act to which they pleaded not guilty and pleaded for trial.;