1. The appellant was convicted by the Additional Sessions Judge Adhoc-II, Thalassery, for the offence punishable under section 55(a) of Abkari Act. He was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year and to pay Rs.1,00,000/- as fine.

2. The case was detected on 19.06.2001 at about 4.00 pm at a place called Muthathi, in front of Yasodha Rice and Flour Mills. PW2, the Assistant Excise Inspector and his party were on patrol duty at Paravathattu-Mukkoot road. The appellant was found carrying 4 litres of country made illicit arrack in a black plastic can of 5 litre capacity. He was intercepted and the plastic can was examined. It was found to contain 4 litres of illicit arrack. The sample of 250 ml was taken in a bottle of 375 ml. The plastic can containing the residue was also packed, sealed and labelled. The accused was arrested then and there, for which arrest memo was prepared. When the sample was analysed by the Chemical Examiner it was found to contain 33.65 percent by volume of ethyl alcohol. After conducting investigation, charge sheet was laid by the Excise Inspector.

3. PWs 1 to 3 were examined and Exhibits P1 to P5 were marked. The black can containing t