KULLEGOWDA 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.748/2007, for the offences punishable under Ss. 32 and 38A 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 dtd. 20/9/2012 and order on sentence dtd. 21/9/2012.

(2.) It is the summary of the case of the prosecution in the Trial Court that, the present petitioners by converting their dwelling house which is located at N.E.S. Extension, 4th Cross, Malavalli Town, within the limits of the respondent - Police Station, was using the said dwelling house for the purpose of manufacturing illicit liquor. Based on the credible information received by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mandya Sub-Division, Mandya, on the date 26/9/2007, PW-1 - the Sub-Inspector of Excise (Enforcement and Investigation), Malavalli, joined by his staff and panchas conducted a raid on the house of the petitioners and noticed that, the petitioners were found in possession in their house of 144 bottles of duplicate Original Choice Whisky in a plastic bag, 96 bottles of duplicate Highway Fine Whisky in another plastic bag, 600 empty bottles of Original Choice Whisky kept in six separate bags, 2 kgs. of Original Choice Whisky corks kept in a plastic bag, 15 liters of blended spirit kept in a white Can with a capacity of 35 liters and another empty Can with a capacity of 35 liters in their house and compound. After enquiry with the inmates of the house, who were the petitioners herein, they came to know that the petitioners were involved in illegal manufacturing of illicit liquor under some printed name, as such, by drawing a panchanama as per Ex.P-2 in the presence of panchas, PW-1 seized all the articles. During the process they separated randomly six bottles each in Original Choice Whisky and Highway Fine Whisky and one liter of the blended spirit separately and sealed them for their chemical examination. By enquiry in the spot, they also came to know that petitioner No.2, who was the wife of petitioner No.1 was the owner of the said house, who had permitted to make use of the premises for the alleged illicit activities. After returning to the office, PW-1 prepared an FIR and submitted to the Court. After investigation, charge sheet was filed against the accused persons for the offences punishable under Ss. 32 , 38A and 43 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-16(a) and Material Objects from MO-1 to MO-13(c). Neither any witness was examined nor any documents were marked as Exhibits from the side of the accused persons.