KUNJUMON Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants are accused Nos.1 and 2 in S.C. No.716/2004 before the Additional Sessions Judge (Adhoc)-II, Thodupuzha. They were convicted for the offence punishable under Section 55(g) of the Abkari Act (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act' for short) and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year and to pay a fine of Rs.1,00,000/- each with default sentence for another rigorous imprisonment for three months.

(2.) The appellants were charge-sheeted before the committal court by PW6, Sub Inspector of Police, Upputhara, on the allegation that they were found to be in possession of wash and utensils used for distilling arrack in the courtyard of the house of the 1st appellant on 15.2.2002 at 10.15 am and committed the offence punishable under Section 55(g) of the Act.

(3.) The prosecution case is that PW6 the detecting officer upon getting a secret information that the appellants were distilling arrack in the courtyard of the house of the 1 st appellant came to the scene of occurrence and found the appellants being engaged in distilling arrack. Seeing the police party, which consisted of PW6 and other police constables attached to the same police station, the appellants were stated to have fled away. Thereupon samples were taken in the presence of independent witnesses and they were duly labelled also in accordance with law. 400 ml of wash was taken from Aluminium Vessel in two bottles of 750 ml each. Upon further search, a few more plastic bottles containing wash were found in the premises and two samples of wash were taken from those bottles also. Evidencing seizure, PW6 prepared Ext.P2 seizure mahazar on the spot itself allegedly in the presence of the independent witnesses. He himself registered Ext.P6 FIR against the appellants for offence punishable under Section 55(g) of the Act and produced the material objects in court along with Ext.P7 property list. PW6 himself conducted the investigation of the crime and applied for sending the sample bottles to chemical laboratory for analysis. After completing the investigation, PW6 laid the final report before the committal court from where the case was committed to the court of Sessions, Thodupuzha.