Girish Chandra Gupta, J. - (1.) This appeal is directed against a judgment dated 18th February, 2005 holding the appellant Subash Prasad Shau @ Gupta @ Bihari and one Sankar Singh guilty of the offence punishable under section 20 (c) of the Narcotic Drugs And Psychotropic Substances Act and an order dated 19th February, 2005 by which both the convicts were sentenced to suffer Rigorous Imprisonment for ten (10) years and were also directed to pay a tine of Rs. 1,00000/- each in default to undergo further Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of 1 year.
(2.) Subash Prasad Shau @ Gupta @ Bihari has come up in appeal. The facts and circumstances of the case briefly stated are as follows :
(3.) On 15th December, 2002 in the afternoon at about 3.30 P.M. 90 kgs of ganja contained in 5 packages were recovered by a raiding party, which included Sri Pravas Biswas, the Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Alipurduar, from the house of the appellant. Upon sensing the arrival of the raiding party the inmates of the house fled away. One of them namely Sankar Singh was chased and caught with a bag containing 10 kgs of Ganja. Both Sankar Singh and the appellant Subash were charged under section 20 of the Narcotic Drugs And Psychotropic Substances Act by an order dated 23rd August, 2004. Initially Subash absconded. He was arrested on 29th July, 2004. Thereafter, the accused persons were charged and tried. The learned Trial Judge has held them guilty as indicated above.;