DIVAKARAN, S/O KOCHUKUNJU Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The accused was prosecuted for the offence punishable under Section 8(1) of the Abkari Act and he was found guilty. Therefore, he was 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. Set off as per law was allowed.

(2.) The incident is said to have occurred on 15.11.2001. During that period, PW1 was the Excise Inspector of the concerned station. On that day, at about 1.00 O'clock in the noon, while he and his team of officers were on patrol duty, when they reached near the house of the accused, they saw the accused coming from the opposite direction carrying a sack. On seeing the excise officials, he tried to turn around. He was immediately intercepted and the sack was examined. It was found to contain two bottles having a capacity of 1= litre and they contained some liquid. By smell and taste, they realized that it was arrack. Both the bottles were seized and the accused was arrested as per Ext.P1 arrest memo. Ext.P2 is the seizure mahazar prepared. From one of the bottles, 180 ml was taken as sample and that was sealed and labelled in accordance with law. PW1 returned to the station and registered crime as per Ext.P3 occurrence report. He prepared the property list namely Ext.P5 and the forwarding note is Ext.P6. He produced the articles, the accused, and documents before the court on the very next day. PW4 conducted investigation in the case. He recorded the statement of witnesses, obtained Ext.P8 report and filed final report 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, Manjeri 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- I (Adhoc), Manjeri, for trial and disposal.