NAGARAJU Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petitioners, as accused Nos.1 and 2 respectively, were tried by the Court of the learned I Additional Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate First Class, Malavalli, (hereinafter for brevity referred to as "the Trial Court") in C.C.No.673/2010, for the offences punishable under Ss. 32 and 34 of the Karnataka Excise Act, 1965 (hereinafter for brevity referred to as "the Excise Act") and were convicted for the said offences by its judgment of conviction and order on sentence dtd. 18/12/2012. Aggrieved by the same, both the accused persons preferred a Criminal Appeal in the Court of the learned I Additional Sessions Judge, Mandya, (hereinafter for brevity referred to as the "Sessions Judge's Court") in Criminal Appeal No.145/2012.

(2.) The summary of the case of the prosecution in the Trial Court is that, on 17/7/2010, at about 10:15 a.m., the present petitioner - Sri. Nagaraju, who was accused No.1 in the Trial Court along with one Sri. Devaraju who was accused No.2 in the Trial Court were found carrying in total 66 (sixty-six) bottles of three varieties of whisky at Anantharamaiah Circle, Malavalli, which is a public place, within the limits of the complainant Police Station and thus have committed the alleged offences punishable under Ss. 32 and 34 of the Excise Act.

(3.) In order to prove the alleged guilt against the accused persons, the prosecution got examined in all five witnesses from PW-1 to PW-5 and got marked documents from Exs.P-1 to P-6 and Material Objects from MO-1 to MO-4. Neither any witness was examined nor any documents were marked as Exhibits from the side of the accused persons.