Judgment Intelligence
Conviction Set AsideMohammed Khalid and Another v. The State of Telangana
2024 INSC 158
Criminal Appeal No. 1610 of 2023 with Criminal Appeal No. 1611 of 2023; reported as [2024] 3 S.C.R. 23
- Court
- Supreme Court of India
- Date of Decision
- 1 March 2024
- Bench
- Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta
- Relevant Acts & Sections
- Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 - Sections 8(c), 20(b)(ii)(C), 43, 49, 50 and 52A; Indian Evidence Act, 1872 - Section 25
Final Outcome
Appeals allowed: the convictions under Section 8(c) read with Section 20(b)(ii)(c) of the NDPS Act set aside; the appellants acquitted of all charges and to be released forthwith if not wanted in any other case (paras 25-26).
Source Supreme Court of India, www.sci.gov.in — judgment dated 01.03.2024
Key holdings
- Unseparated chillies left the 80 kg weight of ganja uncertain (para 19).
- Two samples stayed with the police, yet three reached the FSL, which shattered the prosecution case (para 21).
- Without Section 52A proceedings, the FSL report could not be read in evidence (para 22).
- Interrogation notes of co-accused are inadmissible under Section 25 of the Evidence Act (paras 22-23).
- The three surviving appellants were acquitted and ordered released (para 25).
Case explainer by NyayVidhan: an account of this judgment and the law it laid down, not the court's text. The judgment itself is the authoritative version.
Brief Facts
On 08.05.2009 a Hyderabad Task Force inspector intercepted a Toyota Qualis near Galaxy Theatre and allegedly seized about 80 kg of ganja in three bundles from A-1 and A-2, drawing three 50-gram samples at the spot (para 5). A-3 and A-4 were arrested later on the basis of the interrogation of A-1 and A-2 (paras 8, 14). The trial court convicted all four under Section 8(c) read with Section 20(b)(ii)(c) of the NDPS Act, with ten years' rigorous imprisonment and a ₹1 lakh fine each, and the Telangana High Court dismissed the appeal on 10.11.2022; A-1 died meanwhile (paras 2-3, 10-11).
Court's Findings
The ganja was found with green chillies that were never separated, so the 80 kg weight was uncertain, and the panchnama did not even mention the chillies (para 19). The seizing officer said he gave one of three samples to the accused, yet three samples reached the FSL, more than two months later (paras 18-19, 21). The ganja was produced in court in seven new unsealed bags instead of the three seized bundles, with no repacking memo or court permission (paras 19, 21). The independent panch witnesses, the sub-inspector who prepared the samples and the carrier constable were not examined, and no malkhana record was produced, so the link evidence failed (paras 20-21). With no Section 52A inventory or sampling before a Magistrate, the FSL report was 'nothing but a waste paper' (para 22). A-3 and A-4 were convicted only on interrogation notes of co-accused, which are confessions to police barred by Section 25 of the Evidence Act (paras 22-23). The concurrent conviction was perverse (para 24).
Legal Principle
An NDPS conviction cannot stand where the prosecution fails to prove safe custody and the link evidence for samples from seizure to the laboratory, or where samples were not drawn under Section 52A; statements of co-accused to the police cannot convict an accused not found in possession (paras 19-23).
