Kundapura bar liquor-raid prosecution quashed over illegal search
The High Court recorded that excise officers raided Lakshmi Bar and Restaurant in June 2024 and seized liquor bottles, then booked the traders under Section 32 of the Karnataka Excise Act and licence rules. The traders were charge-sheeted in CC No.220/2025. The High Court quashed the case because officers neither took a search warrant nor recorded reasons as Section 54 mandates.
This page records what the cited court records say happened. Findings belong to the court or authority that made them; this register adds none of its own. Names of private individuals are withheld unless a naming gate clears them.
How we verify →The prosecution in CC No.220/2025 stands quashed; no penalty survives.
What happened
The High Court recorded that after the alleged raid on Lakshmi Bar and Restaurant on 02.06.2024 between 7:21 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., an FIR in Crime No.52/2024 was registered for Sections 32 and 34 of the Karnataka Excise Act and liquor bottles were seized.
The High Court recorded that officers then filed the impugned FIR as Crime No.63/2023-24 and a charge sheet in CC No.220/2025 against the petitioners under Section 32 of the Excise Act and licensing rules.
The High Court held that compliance with Section 54 of the Excise Act is mandatory, and the failure to obtain a warrant or record written reasons for skipping one vitiated the search, seizure, FIR and charge sheet.
The High Court allowed the petition and quashed the proceedings in CC No.220/2025 before the Principal Civil Judge and JMFC, Kundapura.
What the record says
“pursuant to the alleged raid conducted on Lakshmi Bar and Restaurant on 02.06.2024 between 7:21 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.”
Crl.P No.10659 of 2025, para 3 (truncated to remove names of private individuals) — read the full text
No complaining victim
The traders were prosecuted only for possessing and handling ordinary liquor at a bar, with no spurious liquor, death, violence or victim alleged.
What we could not confirm
No 2026 Karnataka excise judgment for simple possession or sale without aggravating factors was found; a 2026 Excise Act case involving the Juvenile Justice Act was rejected. No spurious liquor, hooch death or violence appears in this case.