ORDER

The concurrent conviction and sentence awarded by the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Malappuram, and the Additional Sessions Court, Manjeri, in CC No.1059/2002 and Crl.Appeal No.24/2004 respectively, convicting and sentencing the petitioner for the commission of offence under Section 381 IPC , are under challenge in this revision.

2. The prosecution case is that the petitioner, who was the store keeper of the office of the Mathrubhumi Daily at Kottakkal, committed theft of news print reels on 19.08.2002 and 25.08.2002 with the help of the 3rd accused, who was the security staff associated with the above establishment, and the 2nd accused, who was the friend of the petitioner. The value of the stolen item is said to be Rs.15,000/-. In connection with the above offence, the Circle Inspector of Police, Tirur, laid the Final Report before the learned Magistrate.

3. In the trial before the learned Magistrate, 22 witnesses were examined from the part of the prosecution as PW1 to PW22 and 15 documents were marked as Exts.P1 to P15. MO1 series and MO2 series were identified as material objects. From the part of the petitioner/accused, 2 witnesses were examined as DW1 and DW2 a