- (1.) Appellant-Accused Surinder Singh @ Sinder was held guilty and was convicted for the commission of offence under Section 15(c) of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (for short, "the Act of 1985") and was sentenced to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of 12 years and to pay a fine of Rs.1,50,000/- and in default of payment of fine to further undergo Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of 2-1/2 years vide judgment of conviction dated 03.11.2009 and order on quantum of sentence dated 05.11.2009. It was ordered that the period of detention already undergone by convict during trial of the case shall be set off against the substantive sentence.
(2.) The case of the prosecution as garnered from the record is that on 21.05.2006 Sub Inspector Ram Avtar alongwith Assistant Sub Inspector Nand Kishore, EASI Parmal Singh, EASI Ashok Kumar, Head Constable Chandeshwar, EHC Inder Singh, Head Constable Suresh Kumar, Head Constable Gurmail Singh and C. Vinod Kumar was present on Gurdawara Crossing, Nissing with Government vehicle bearing registration No.HR- 05J-3400, of which Varinder Kumar was the driver, for patrol and crime detection duty. There he received a secret information that Surinder son of Balkar Singh, Jat Sikh, resident of Dera Balkar Singh, Nissing, Gurmukh Singh son of Sadha Singh, Jat Sikh, resident of Dera Amupur and Dilbagh Singh son of Chattar Singh, Jat Sikh, resident of Kotla Samana Mandi, Punjab, a relative of Sinder Singh, were engaged in the business of selling poppy husk in the Dera of Balkar Singh and were going to the said Dera by means of a Tractor-Trolley loaded with poppy husk for sale. In case a raid is conducted, they could be apprehended red handed. Finding the information reliable, Sub Inspector Ram Avtar reduced the same into writing and sent the Ruqa to the police station for registration of the First Information Report. A wireless message to D.S.P. Headquarter was also sent. The police party reached the Dera of Balkar Singh situated on Kaithal Road, Nissing and saw the parked Tractor-Trolley loaded with bags and two persons sitting on those bags. Seeing the police party, the men sitting on the bags fled away but were identified by A.S.I. Parmal Singh and A.S.I. Ashok Kumar as Gurmukh Singh son of Sadha Singh and Sinder Singh son of Balkar Singh as they were familiar to them.
(3.) After arrival of D.S.P. Vijay Kumar Barara alongwith his staff at the spot, on his direction the Tractor-Trolley was unloaded; 47 bags containing poppy husk were recovered; the weighing material was arranged; and two samples of 100 grams each were separated from every bag. The remainder on weighment came out to be 39 Kgs 500 grams poppy husk in each bag. All the samples and remainder were converted into separate parcels and were sealed with seal bearing letters 'RS'. D.S.P. Vijay Kumar Barara also affixed his seal 'VKB' on each parcel. A sample seal was retained and the seal after use was handed over to A.S.I. Nand Kishore. The samples, bags and sample seals were taken into possession by preparing recovery memo Ex.P4. Further on the direction of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sub Inspector Ram Avtar with the help of his police officials searched the old well near the Kotha of the Dera. 56 plastic bags and three jute bags containing poppy husk were recovered from the well. Two samples of 100 grams each were separated from each bag. On weighment, the remaining contraband in 49 bags came out to be 39 Kgs 500 grams. In seven plastic bags, the remainder on weighment was found as 14 Kgs 800 grams and in the three jute bags the balance poppy husk weighed to be 39 Kgs 800 grams. All the 118 sample parcels as well as 59 bags were sealed with seal 'RS'. The D.S.P. also affixed his seal 'VKB' on each parcel. Sample seal was prepared and the seal after use was handed over to A.S.I. Nand Kishore. The samples and the bags were taken into possession by preparing recovery memo Ex.P5.;