Judgment :-

Aftab Alam, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. The two appellants (who are accused Nos.2 & 3), along with one Narayanan (accused No.1) have been convicted under Section 8(1) read with 8(2) of the (Kerala) Abkari Act. They were sentenced by the trial court to rigorous imprisonment for three years and a fine of Rs.1,00,000/-with the default sentence of one year rigorous imprisonment. In appeal the High Court, though maintaining the conviction, reduced the sentence to rigorous imprisonment for 18 months and the default sentence for failure to pay the fine, to rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months. The High Court also directed that the accused would be entitled to get the benefit of set off under Section 428 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

3. According to the prosecution case, on March 12, 2005 at about 11:15 AM the accused were seen coming in an auto-rickshaw bearing registration No.KL-03-F-3146. The auto-rickshaw belonged to and it was being driven by appellant No.2. On seeing the police party, all the three occupants ran away leaving the auto-rickshaw at the spot. On its inspection, the police found two (2) 20 litres cans containing 40 litres of arrack lying inside t