Criminal Appeal No.151 OF 1995 (S.J.) [Appeal against the judgment and order dated 4.8.1995 passed by the Special Judge, Saran, Chapra in Trial No.22 of 1995] BALMIKI PRASAD, SON OF SHRI RAM BABU PRASAD, SARDHA ROAD, SALEMPUR CHAPRA, POLICE STATION CHAPRA TOWN, DISTRICT SARAN AT PRESENT RESIDING AT DALDALI BAZAR, CHAPRA IN CHAPRA TOWN, DISTRICT SARAN …………………….. Appellant Versus THE STATE OF BIHAR ………….. Respondent For the Appellant : Mr. Ishwari Singh, Advocate For the Respondent : Mr. Aslam Ansari, Addl. P.P. --------- P R E S E N T THE HON'BLE JUSTICE SMT. ANJANA PRAKASH Anjana Prakash, J: The appellant has been convicted u/s.7 of the Essential Commodities Act and sentenced to R.I. for five years by a judgment dated 4.8.1995 passed by the Special Judge, Saran, Chapra in Trial No.22 of 1995. The case of the prosecution is that on 1.3.1988 an information was received that imported palm oil was kept in the grocery shop of the appellant presumably for black marketing, upon which a raid was made on the shop and 23 tins of palm oil containing 15 kgs each and 10 bags of flour each weighing 90 kgs were seized from the shop. During trial the prosecution has examined four witnesses in all. Out of whom, P.W.1 is a lottery ticket seller, who had a shop adjacent to the appellant, whereas P.W.2 is - 2 - another shop keeper. P.W.3 is the Supply Inspector and P.W.4 is a formal witness. The defence also examined one witness, who was a cart driver. The Investigating Officer has not been examined nor has the informant been examined during trial. The only evidence that was adduced before the Trial Court was that of the two witnesses who were seizure witnesses. The defence of the appellant was that he had indeed stored articles which belonged to somebody else and, therefore, no offence was made against him. Since the Investigating Officer has not been examined by the prosecution, it is difficult to uphold the conviction of the appellant in absence of any objective evidence with regard to the storage and recovery of the articles concerned. In the result, the appeal is allowed and the order of conviction and sentence passed against the appellant on 4.8.1995 passed by the Special Judge, Saran, Chapra in Trial No.22 of 1995 is set aside. The appellant is discharged from the liability of his bail bonds. Patna High Court Dated, 25th April, 2011. NAFR/ Narendra/ ( Anjana Prakash, J. )