TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2004 (11) TMI 558
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....of the case are that on 14^th December, 1994 one P.C. Kulbi was apprehended by the police and was found to be in possession of Chares. He was interrogated. In the course of interrogation, he disclosed the involvement of the appellant, who as stated by P.C. Kulbi, had Charas hidden in his shoes. He volunteered to identify the appellant. The said P.C. Kulbi accompanied the police party to Anjuna beach where he pointed out the appellant, who was immediately apprehended and searched. From his shoes a substance, allegedly Charas was recovered. According to prosecution, from the shoe on the right foot 100 gms. of that substance, and from the shoe on the left foot 115 gms. of that substance was recovered. The recovery was made in the presence of two public witnesses of whom one was Nitin Kesarkar (PW.2). The other witness was not examined by the prosecution. The seized substance was duly packed and sealed and sent for chemical examination. The report disclosed that the substance seized was Charas. 3. PW-4, Naresh Mhamal, who conducted search, was a police sub-inspector attached to the Anti Narcotic Cell, police station. He deposed that on 14^th December, 1994, he had gone to Flea Marke....
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....anuary 4, 1995 which disclosed that the substance contained in the two envelopes was Charas. The quantity found in envelope A was 98.16 gins, and in envelope B 82.54 gms. According to PW-1 he found the seal intact and the seal bore the inscription "Anti Narcotic Cell". 5. Charge was trained against the appellant under Section 20(b)(ii) on 26.4.1995 for having been found in possession of 180.70 gms. of Charas. 6. Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant has urged before us the following submissions. Firstly, he submitted that the seal which was put on the two envelopes soon after alleged recovery of Charas was different from the seal found on the sealed envelopes by the Junior Scientific Officer (PW-1) who conducted the chemical analysis of the substance forwarded to him in the two envelopes. It was, therefore, not certain whether what was sent to the laboratory for chemical analysis was the same substance which was seized and sealed by PW-4 on 14.12.1994. Secondly, he submitted that the evidence on record disclosed that the quantity of Charas found in the two envelopes by the Junior Scientific Officer (PW-1) was quite different from the quantity that was sealed in those t....
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....tters "ANCPS" 10. So far as PW-1 is concerned, he stated that the two envelopes marked 'A' and 'B' were received by him and he found the seal fixed on both the envelopes intact and tallied with the specimen seal impression sent along with the letter. On the specimen seal there were the letters "Anti Narcotic Cell" and he found similar seals affixed on the two envelopes A and B. 11. The evidence noticed above no doubt discloses a discrepancy as to the inscription on the seal. According to panch witness the inscription was ANCPS while according to PW-4 it was "Anti Narcotic Cell, Panaji, Goa" According to PW-1, it was "Anti Narcotic Cell". These discrepancies in the description of the seal, however, are not sufficient to hold that the case of the prosecution must be dis-believed. PW-2 while he described the inscription on the seal, himself stated that he was not sure as to what exactly was inscribed on the seal. At best he was stating from recollection. Similarly, the evidence of PW-4 discloses that there was only one seal of the Anti Narcotic Cell and even according to PW-1, the seal bore inscription "Anti Narcotic Cell". We do not attach much importance to thi....
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....screpancy. Learned counsel rightly submitted before us that the High Court was not justified in upholding the conviction of the appellant on the basis of what was recovered only from envelope 'A' ignoring the quantity of Charas found in envelope 'B'. This is because there was only one search and seizure, and whatever was recovered from the appellant was packed in two envelopes. The credibility of the recovery proceeding is considerably eroded if it is found that the quantity actually found by PW-1 was less than the quantity sealed and sent to him. As he rightly emphasized, the question was not how much was seized, but whether there was an actual seizure, and whether what was seized was really sent for chemical analysis to PW-1. The prosecution has not been able to explain this discrepancy and, therefore, it renders the case of the prosecution doubtful. 15. This is not all. We find from the evidence of PW-4 that he had taken the seal from PSI Thorat and after preparing the seizure report, panchnama, etc. he carried both the packets to the police station and handed over the packets as well as the seal to Inspector Yadav. According to him on the next day, he took ba....