BINU Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The accused was prosecuted for the offence punishable under Section 55(a) of the Abkari Act. He was found guilty. He was therefore convicted and sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay a fine of 1 lakh with a default clause of rigorous imprisonment for a further period of one year. Set off as per law was allowed.

(2.) Pw4 was the Excise Inspector of Kazhakuttom Excise Range at the relevant time. On 27.11.1997, as usual, he along with his team of officers had set out for patrol duty. At about 11 a.m., on that day, when they reached the Holy Cross Hospital, they found the accused coming along the road with a can. He was intercepted and the can was seized. The can contained some sort of liquid. On examination of the contents by smell and taste, they identified it as arrack. The can was taken into custody and it was sealed and labelled. Ext.P1 is the mahazar prepared at the spot and Ext.P2 is the arrest memo. They returned to the station along with the accused, the contraband article and the records and registered crime as per Ext.P4 occurrence report. He had the accused produced before court and he claims to have sent a forwarding note requesting the court to take samples and send it to chemical analysis. PW5 took over investigation. He recorded statements of witnesses and obtained Ext.P5 Chemical Analysis Report. 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 District & Sessions Court, Fast Track-I, Thiruvananthapuram, for trial and disposal.