NAZARUDHEEN Vs. STATE OF KERALA; STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The accused was prosecuted for the offence punishable under Section 8(1) and (2) of the Abkari Act. He was found guilty. He was therefore convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and to pay a fine of 1 lakh with a default clause of six months.

(2.) The incident in this case is said to have occurred on 07.12.1999. PW4 was the preventive Officer of the Attingal Excise Circle Office at the relevant time. On that day at about 7.00 p.m., while on patrol duty, when he reached near the Kavalyur bridge, he happened to see the accused coming along the road carrying a plastic sack. He was intercepted and the plastic sack was seized and examined. It was found to contain 50 covers of liquid each containing about 150 ml. One of the covers was opened and by taste and smell, it was revealed that it was arrack. The accused was carrying 50 such covers and the total quantity was 7= litres of arrack. The accused was arrested and the sample was sealed and labelled in accordance with law. A mahazar was also prepared. On the sample as well as on the balance quantity, seal was affixed and the labels containing the signature of the accused, witnesses and PW4 were affixed. Ext.P4 is the arrest memo. PW4 says that he then returned to the Range Office and entrusted the articles, the accused and the records to PW5. PW6 says that during 1999, he was the Preventive Officer of Varkala Range. On 07.12.1999 at about 7.00 p.m., the accused, the seized articles and the records were produced before him and he received them. He prepared occurrence report which was marked as Ext.P6. He prepared Ext.P7 property list. PW2 says that he completed investigation and laid charge before court.

(3.) The court before which the final report was laid, took cognizance of the offence and finding the offence to be exclusively triable by a Court of Sessions, committed the case to Sessions Court, Thiruvananthapuram under Section 209 of Cr.P.C. after following the necessary procedures. The said court made over the case to Additional Sessions Court, Fast Track (Adhoc)-II, Thiruvananthapuram for trial and disposal.