JACOB THOMAS Vs. ASSISTANT EXCISE COMMISSIONER AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, a Pastor in the Church of God, is the accused No. 1 in Crime No. 6/2007 on the file of Agali Excise Range for offences under Ss. 8(1) and 8(2) of the Abkari Act ('the Act'). The facts in brief are that on 27.04.2007 the officials of the Excise Department intercepted the petitioner's vehicle and found it transporting 230 litres of arrack, a prohibited substance. As the inmates of the jeep in question fled from the scene, the authorities could not make any immediate arrest.

(2.) As can be seen, later, the officials arrested the petitioner and another, said to be his accomplice, the second accused. Keeping aside the criminal proceedings in Crime No. 6/2007, the progress of which the learned counsel for the petitioner has no knowledge, I may focus on the confiscation of the vehicle, which is the subject matter of the present writ petition.

(3.) Initially, after the seizure of the vehicle, the petitioner filed W.P.(C) No. 20423/2007 and invited judgment dated 11.09.2007, through which this Court directed interim release of the vehicle to the petitioner on the condition of his furnishing a bank guarantee for Rs. 1,40,000/ -. As it emerges, the petitioner could not comply with the judgment of this Court: he failed to produce the bank guarantee; nor could he, as a result, get the interim custody of the vehicle.