SUPREME COURT

Ram Singh vs Central Bureau Of Ivestigation

CRIMINAL APPEAL NOS.451-452 OF 2005

Criminal case - Possession of contraband - Whether in the state of evidence appellant can be held guilty for possessing the opium only on the ground that he brought the opium from the house of the owner to the hotel? - It is trite that to hold a person guilty, possession has to be conscious - Control over the goods is one of the tests to ascertain conscious possession so also the title - Once an article is found in possession of an accused it could be presumed that he was in conscious possession - Possession is a polymorphous term which carries different meaning in different context and circumstances and, therefore, it is difficult to lay down a completely logical and precise definition uniformly applicable to all situations with reference to all the statutes - A servant of a hotel, in our opinion, cannot be said to be in possession of contraband belonging to his master unless it is proved that it was left in his custody over which he had absolute control - Applying the aforesaid principle when we consider the facts of the present case it is difficult to hold that opium was in possession of the appellant - Title to the opium vested in the owners of the hotel.