KING Vs. BIRDI CHAND MODA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by Government against an order of acquittal passed by Mr. S K. Bagchi, Magistrate, First Class, Cuttack.

(2.) The prosecution case is that P. W. 2, Krupasindhu Mohapatra, Sub-Inspector of Police (Enforcement Branch) searched the premises of the accused, Birdi Chandra Moda on 15-9-1947 and recovered a stock of cotton cloths from an underground chamber of the accused's bouse. The seizure list prepared at the time (Ex. 1) shows that a number of pieces of cloth had been kept by the accused in two trunks in an underground chamber of his house. The cloths recovered are -- a whole 'than' of white drill, pauplin Cambric shirting, voila, mull-mull and fents which could be converted into saree pieces. The accused is admittedly a wholesale dealer in cloths. The prosecution alleges that the seized stock of cloths was in excess of the accused's 'normal requirements' and that Clause 13 (2) of the Orissa Cotton Cloth and Yarn Control Order has been violated.

(3.) The prosecution examined the Inspector of Police (P. W. 2) who proved the search and the sanction accorded by the District Magistrate for prosecuting the accused. His only evidence on the point is 10 the effect that "this proceeding is filed as the cloth was beyond the accused's normal requirements. Accused's family consists of two adults and four children. I did not investigate as to the origin of the cloth," The other witness (P. W. 1) proved the search conducted by P. W. 2 but admitted in his cross-examination that the family of the accused consisted of 20 to 25 members.