SAJU Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants herein are the accused Nos.1 to 3 in S.C No.793/2009 of the Court of Session, Alappuzha. They and the 4 th accused faced prosecution in the court below on the allegation that on 24.11.2005 the accused Nos.1 to 3 were found loading a huge quantity of spirit in the mini lorry No.KL-03 M/8709 on the instructions of the 4 th accused to whom the quantity actually belonged. The offence was detected by the Excise Inspector of the Mavelikkara Excise Range. He arrested the accused on the spot and seized the contraband articles, including the vehicle. The crime and occurrence report was also registered by the Excise Inspector. Later, different high officials of the Excise Enforcement and Anti Narcotic Special Squad, Alappuzha and the Special Intelligence Squad, Thiruvananthapuram, conducted investigation, and an Assistant Excise Commissioner of the Excise Intelligence and Investigation Bureau, Thiruvananthapuram submitted final report in court. On committal, the case came up before the Court of Session, from where it was made over to the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Adhoc, Mavelikkara, for trial and disposal.

(2.) The four accused appeared before the trial court and pleaded not guilty to the charge framed against them under Section 55(a) of the Kerala Abkari Act ('the Act'). The prosecution examined 19 witnesses in the trial court and proved Exts.P1 to P22 documents. MO1 to MO7 properties were also identified during trial. All the accused denied the incriminating circumstances when examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C. A witness was examined in defence, as DW1. On an appreciation of the evidence, the trial court found the accused Nos.1 to 3 guilty under Section 55(a) of the Act. The 4 th accused was found not guilty, and accordingly he was acquitted. On conviction the accused Nos.1 to 3 were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years each and to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh each by judgment dated 5.7.2013. Aggrieved by the said judgment of conviction, the accused Nos.1 to 3 have come up in appeal.

(3.) When this appeal came up for hearing, the learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the appellants are entitled for acquittal on the ground of very serious infirmity in this case, that the investigation was conducted by different incompetent officers of the Excise Special Squad and Excise Intelligence Squad, and that the final report was also submitted by the another incompetent Assistant Excise Commissioner. On a perusal of the entire materials including the evidence given by the material witness I find that everything was done in this case by incompetent officers except detection, and so the factual aspects regarding the arrest of the accused and the seizure of contraband article need not be probed into.