ORDER :

This Criminal Revision Case came to be filed, under Sections 397 and 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, "the Cr.P.C."), by the petitioner herein, who was the accused No.1 in C.C. No.62 of 2004 on the file of the Court of Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate, Kothapeta (for short, "the trial Court") and who was the appellant in Criminal Appeal No.196 of 2006, on the file of the Court of II Additional District and Sessions Judge, East Godavari District at Amalapuram (for short, "the learned Additional Sessions Judge"), challenging the judgment therein, dated 28.12.2007, whereunder the learned Additional Sessions Judge, dismissed the Criminal Appeal confirming the judgment of the trial Court in C.C. No.62 of 2004, dated 24.07.2006.

2. The petitioner herein faced charge under Section 7-A R/w. 8(e) of the Andhra Pradesh Prohibition Act, 1995 (for short, "the APP Act") before the Court below for which he was found guilty and convicted and sentenced to suffer Rigorous Imprisonment for a period of one year and also to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- in default to suffer Simple Imprisonment for a period of three months.

3. Felt aggrieved of the same, he filed Criminal Appeal No.196 of 2006 before the learned Additional Sessions Judge, which came to be dismissed on merits.

4. The parties to this Criminal Revision Case will hereinafter be referred to as arrayed before the trial Court, for the sake of convenience.

5. The case of the prosecution, in brief, according to the charge sheet filed by the Sub-Inspector of Police, Kothapeta Police Station, pertaining to Crime No.9 of 2004 for the offence under Section 7-A R/w. 8(e) of the APP Act is that the accused Nos.1 and 2 are residents of Pedapeta, Vedapalem Village, Kothapeta Mandal. They used to live by manufacturing illicit arrack for selling purpose. On 20.01.2004 at about 05:00 PM, LW.6 Sri P. Eswarlu, SI of Police, Kothapeta conducted raid along with his staff i.e., LWs.1 to 3 namely R.V.N. Murthy, K. Rajamohana Rao and S.M.Pasha in the presence of LWs.4 and 5 - Madhunapanthula Satyanarayana Murthy and Sattiraju Adithya Kiran and arrested the accused near nidraganneru chettu situated at the burial ground. They also found another person by name Chodapaneedi Krishnakanth @ Chilakaraju, who was a juvenile, who absconded. The Sub-Inspector of Police, Kothapeta seized two black coloured plastic tins from the possession of accused No.1. Each tin was consisting of 15 liters of arrack. The total arrack was 30 liters worth Rs.3,000/-. The Police seized the said arrack and aluminium vessels and Rs.500/-, after lifting samples for chemical analysis. Basing on the mediators report, the Sub-Inspector of Police registered the aforesaid Crime under the provisions of law and took up investigation. During investigation, he forwarded the accused No.1 to the Court for remand. He also sent samples to the Chemical Examiner for Exercise, Kakinada through SDPO-AMP under a letter of advice. He received the Chemical Analysis report stating that the samples are of illicitly distilled liquor. Subsequently, he arrested the accused No.2 on 25.02.2004 and sent him for remand. A separate charge sheet is being filed before the learned III Additional Judicial First Class Magistrate, Rajahmundry (Juvenile Court) against A-3 who is a juvenile.

6. The learned Magistrate took cognizance of the case under Section 7-A R/w. 8(e) of the APP Act against the accused Nos.1 and 2 and after completing necessary formalities under Section 207 Cr.P.C., a charge under Section 7-A R/w. 8(e) of the APP Act was framed against the accused Nos.1 and 2, for which they pleaded not guilty and claimed to be tried.

7. During the course of trial, on behalf of the prosecution, PWs.1 to 3 were examined and Exs.P-1 to P-3 and MOs.1 and 2 were marked.

8. Accused were examined under Section 313 Cr.P.C with reference to the incriminating circumstances in the evidence let in by the prosecution for which they denied the same.

9. The