- (1.)PETITIONER seeks a writ of certiorari calling for the records relating to the proceedings in Rc. No. 145/2007/a-4 dated 16. 6. 2007 on the file of the Prohibition and excise, Superintendent in respect of C. C. No. 2 of 2005 on the file of the Chief Judicial magistrate - cum - Principal Assistant sessions Judge, West Godavari District, Eluru and to quash the same and to direct the first respondent to compound the offence in c. C. No. 2 of 2005.
(2.)PETITIONER submits that the Inspector of Prohibition and Excise Station, tadepalligudem, registered a case in cr. No. 24 of 1998-99 for the offence punishable under Section 8 (b) (ii) of the andhra Pradesh Prohibition Act, 1995 (for short 'the Act') showing him as A-1 along with two others as A-2 and A-3. After completion of investigation, charge-sheet has been filed, which was numbered as C. C. No. 637 of 1999 on the file of the Special judicial Magistrate of First Class, (Excise), west Godavari District, Eluru, now pending on the file of the Chief Judicial Magistrate of First Class-cum-Principal Assistant sessions Judge, Eluru as C. C. No. 2 of 2005.
(3.)A perusal of the charge-sheet goes to show that the petitioner has got agricultural land and also thatched shed nearer to aerodrome in Tadepalligudem limits and A-2 and A-3 are his close associates and they jointly indulged in illicit possession of huge quantity of non-duty paid liquor in the said shed of the petitioner. On 1. 11. 1998, the Excise officials on information about the illegal possession of the said non-duty paid liquor, they searched the thatched shed and found the petitioner coming out with hand bag, in which they found 30 nip bottles of non-duty paid liquor with company seals and labels of Vinay Club Whisky brand. The petitioner confessed that he along with A2 stored and stocked the liquor in his thatched shed. The excise officials seized 3,456 + 30 = 3,486 liquor bottles including samples and accordingly a case had been registered. Thus, it is the case of the department that the petitioner along with two others illegally stocked the said liquor worth Rs. 1,03,680/- in the thatched shed; therefore, they are liable for the offence punishable under Section 8 (b) (ii) of the Act.