HC upholds conviction in NDPS case

PANAJI — The Single Judge of the Bombay High Court Mr Justice N A Britto has upheld the sentence passed by Special Judge, NDPS Court, Mapusa and dismissed the appeal filed by the accused Santosh Kumar Singh resident of Nepal.Â
The accused was earlier convicted by the NDPS Court under Section 20(b) (ii)(C) of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 2001, and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a period of 10 years and to pay a fine of Rs 1,00,000 and in default to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of six months.Â
The case of the prosecution was that on May 13, 2004 between 2.30 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. the accused was found in illegal possession of 1.51 kgs of charas, near Kamat canteen at KTC bus stand.Â
Accused had taken the plea that his name was not Santosh Kumar but Jaiprakash Narayan. Â
“Whatever might have been the name of the accused whether Santosh Kumar or Jaiprakash Narayan, there was no dispute as regards the identity of the accused”, the High Court observed. Â
The Court has also noted that the accused was identified by one Roy Pereira as the very person who was found sitting near the cement bench near the staircase near Kamat canteen and therefore it is obvious that the accused is one and the same person who was arrested and prosecuted.Â
The Special Judge had also observed that till the statement of the accused was recorded under Section 313 of the Code, the accused had previously not objected being called Santosh Kumar.
or even when he was produced before court for remand from time to time.
NT NETWORK
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