The appellant who is accused no. 3, along with two co accused, was convicted by the learned Special Judge under the Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 for the offence punishable under Section 15 of NPDS Act. The learned special judge held that the prosecution had prosecuted had alleging that the accused were found in the conscious possession of 205 kilograms of poppy straw without a license or authorization. The accused, including the appellant, were ordered to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years and to pay a fine of Rs. 1,00,000/ each. The Supreme Court while allowing the appeal presented before it was of the view that the accused have not been with questions under Section 313 Crpc regarding the circumstances on which the prosecution relied.

“The two circumstances alleged against the appellant will have to be kept out of consideration. There is no other material on record to connect the appellant with the offence. The incident is of May 2001, and therefore, it will be unjust to subject the appellant to further examination under Section 313 of CrPC at this stage, nearly twenty-two and half years from the date of the alleged recovery of the contraband. As the only material circumstances pleaded by the prosecution against the appellant were not put to him, a serious prejudice has been caused to the appellant's defence. Indeed, the appellant may not have earlier raised the issue regarding the inadequacy of examination under Section 313 of CrPC. However, in this case, the omission goes to the root of the matter as far as the appellant is concerned. According to us, it is a serious and material illegality committed by the Court as the examination of the appellant was not made under Section 313 of CrPC on the aforesaid circumstances.”

The Supreme Court held that the failure to put two relevant circumstances to the appellant in his examination under Section 313 CrPC will be fatal to the prosecution case. The apex court set aside the impugned judgments of the Trial Court and High Court only in so far as the present appellant is concerned.