V K ASOKAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Excepting Crl. M. C. No. 4695/1997, all the other Crl. M. Cs. are for regular bail, while Crl. M. C. 4695/97 is for anticipatory bail.

(2.) Crl. M. C. 4710/97 arises out of Crime No. 228/97 of Anthikkad Police Station. Crl. M. C. Nos. 4711/97 and 4717/97 arise out of Crime No. 230/97 of Irinjalakuda Police Station, while Crl. M. C. Nos. 4702/97 and 4716/97 arise out of Excise Crime No. 14/79 of Excise Range Office, Charpu, while Crl. M. C. 4712/97 arises out of Crime No. 29/97 of Excise Range Office, Thrissur, while Crl. M. C. 4709/97 arises out of Crime No. 508/97 of Town East Police Station, Thrissur. The above crimes are registered for offences under the Kerala Abkari Act (hereinafter referred to as "the Abkari Act") and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (hereinafter referred to as "the NDPS Act"). The petitioners before me are either Abkari contractors who have taken the licence for running toddy shops or the employees in their shops or godowns. On information that toddy is being mixed with noxious substances, the police authorities as well as Excise Authorities raided the godowns of the toddy contractors as well as their shops and have registered the crimes against the contractors and some of the workers on the ground that the toddy is mixed with noxious substances and also psychotropic substances. All the petitioners had moved the Sessions Court, Thrissur for bail. But, the Sessions Judge did not grant bail. They have approached this Court under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. I shall deal with the facts of each case separately. Crl. M. C. 4710/1997 :

(3.) Crime No. 228/1997 is of Anthikkad Police Station. The bail application is filed by accused 1, 3 and 4 in Crime No. 228/97. On 19-7-1997 at 4.30 p.m., a raid was conducted in the godowns of accused No. 1 situated in Manaloor Panchayat. The raid was conducted by the Circle Inspector of Police, Valappad and party as per the directions of the Superintendent of Police, Thrissur. At the time of raid, the third petitioner-one Devassy, one Raghu and one Raju (who are accused) were found to be mixing water, yeast, sugar etc. with toddy. Accused 7 and 8 were found to be mixing and making the above mixture in the rear side portion of the godown. They found about 56,300 litres of toddy in various containers made of wood and plastic. They also found about 21 sacks of sugar and 45 kgs yeast. The police seized the toddy as also the yeast and sugar. According to the prosecution, the samples collected were sent for chemical examination to the Chemical Examination Laboratory, Cochin. The examination result was received from the Laboratory on 6-10-1997. It shows that the toddy seized from the godown contained psychotropic substance like 'Diazepam' and 'Phenobarbitons'. Pursuant to this, a report was filed before the Court and the offences under Section 22 of the NDPS Act were also incorporated. According to the case of the prosecution, during the investigation it was found that the accused were found to be manufacturing toddy artificially and adding narcotic and psychotropic substances to it. The consumption of such an adulterated toddy is injurious to health. According to the prosecution, since psychotropic substances are found, bail can be granted only according to Section 37 of the NDPS Act and for Abkari offences, under Section 41-A of the Abkari Act. It was their case that the offences alleged are very serious one and hence the petitioners should not be enlarged on bail. They also contended that if they are released on bail, there are possibilities of the offences being repeated again.