NDLI: Sanjeet Kumar Singh @ Munna Kumar Singh Vs. State of Chhattisgarh

Content Provider	Supreme Court of India
e-ISSN	30484839
Language	English
Access Restriction	NDLI
Subject Keyword	Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Law Judgement
Jurisdiction	India
Case(s) Referred	Referred Case 0 Referred Case 1 Referred Case 2 Referred Case 3 Referred Case 4
Case Type	Appeal
Court	Supreme Court of India
Disposal Nature	Appeal Allowed
Headnote	Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 – ss. 20(b)(ii)(C), 54 Presumption u/s. 54 – Appellant concurrently convicted u/s. 20(b)(ii)(C) and sentenced, relying on the testimony of PW-7-DSP (who acted both as the informant and the IO) – On appeal, held: I.O. examined as PW-7 claims to have done everything only in the presence of independent witnesses – But those independent witnesses not merely denied their presence and participation but also came up with an explanation as to how their signatures found a place in the documents – Thus, a serious doubt is cast on the very search and seizure allegedly made by PW-7 – It is true that s. 54 raises a presumption and the burden shifts on the accused to explain as to how he came into possession of the contraband – But to raise the presumption u/s. 54 it must first be established that a recovery was made from the accused – The moment a doubt is cast upon the most fundamental aspect, the search and seizure, the appellant, will also be entitled to the same benefit as given by the Special Court to the co-accused – Appellant also entitled to the benefit of doubt – Judgments of the Special Court and the High Court set aside.Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 – Evidence – Police witnesses, independent witnesses – Held: It is not always necessary that the evidence of the police witnesses have to be corroborated by independent witnesses – Also, independent witnesses turning hostile need not necessarily result in the acquittal of the accused, when the mandatory procedure is followed and the other police witnesses speak in one voice – But if the Court has to completely disregard the lack of corroboration of the testimony of police witnesses by independent witnesses and turn a Nelson’s eye to the independent witnesses turning hostile, then the story of the prosecution should be very convincing and the testimony of the official witnesses notably trustworthy – If independent witnesses come up with a story which creates a gaping hole in the prosecution theory, about the very search and seizure, then the case of the prosecution should collapse – Once the prosecution comes up with a story that the search and seizure was conducted in the presence of independent witnesses and they also choose to examine them before Court, then the Court has to see whether the version of the independent witnesses who turned hostile is unbelievable and whether there is a possibility that they have become turncoats.
Judge	Hon'ble Mr. Justice V. Ramasubramanian
Neutral Citation	2022 INSC 883
Petitioner	Sanjeet Kumar Singh @ Munna Kumar Singh
Respondent	State Of Chhattisgarh
SCR	[2022] 11 S.C.R. 166
Judgement Date	2022-08-30
Case Number	871

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