N HANEEFA Vs. STATION HOUSE OFFICER AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Two persons were sought to be prosecuted for the offence punishable under Section 55(a) of the Abkari Act. Among them, the second accused absconded and the first accused alone stood trial. He was found guilty of the offence alleged against him. Therefore, he was convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months and to pay a fine of 1 lakh with a default clause of one month.

(2.) The prosecution case in short is that on 27.01.2002, while PWs 1, 2 and 3 were on patrol duty within their jurisdiction at about 21.30 hrs. when they reached Pallikkara Beach road, they found an autorikshaw going towards Pallikkara Madam. Feeling suspicious, the auto was followed. The autorikshaw later stopped and the prosecution allegation is that the auto driver and another person abandoned the auto and ran away. However, the Police Officers were successful in apprehending the auto driver though they could not get hold of the other person. PW1 then inspected the two sacks which were kept on the rear platform and each sack was found to contain 500 packets of arrack. Each packet had a capacity of 100 ml. All the packets had identical labels on them and it was seen that they were made in Karnataka. Even though the Police Officer sought for the source of articles, it was not revealed. PW1 took samples of contraband articles and labelled and sealed the same. On the label, he had ensured that signature of PW1, the accused and independent witnesses were affixed. He prepared Ext.P1 seizure mahazar and then the party returned to the Police Station. On reaching the Police Station, crime was registered as per Ext.P2 FIR. The records, articles and the accused were produced before court on 28.01.2002. PW4 took over investigation and he prepared Ext.P3 scene mahazar. The property list prepared by him is Ext.P4. The forwarding note prepared by him is Ext.P5 and the FSL report is Ext.P6. After completing investigation, he 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, Kasaragod under Section 209 of Cr.P.C. after following the necessary procedures. The said court made over the case to Additional Sessions Court, Adhoc-I, Kasaragod for trial and disposal.