An excavator belonging to the petitioner was seized by the forest officials for allegedly being used for commission of offences under Sec.27(1)(e)(i) and (iv) of the Kerala Forest Act (for short, "the Act”). Forest officials registered Crime No.1 of 2011. The vehicle was produced before learned Judicial First Class Magistrate, Alathur where petitioner moved Crl.M.P.No.541 of 2011 under Sec.451 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short, "the Code”) for interim custody of the excavator. That application did not find favour with the learned Magistrate and it was dismissed. That order was challenged in this Court in Crl.M.C.No.899 of 2011. This court as per order dated March 30, 2011 allowed the criminal miscellaneous case and directed release of the excavator subject to certain conditions which include that petitioner shall produce bank guarantee for the value of excavator as may be got assessed by the learned Magistrate. Accordingly learned Magistrate got the value of excavator assessed through the Mechanical Engineer, PWD. He reported value of the excavator as `.12,00,000/-.
