Inadmissible confession to excise officer cannot sustain conviction without independent corroboration.

A confession made to an Excise Officer treated as a police officer under the governing excise statute was held inadmissible under Section 25 of the Indian Evidence Act. The Court distinguished later authorities under different excise and revenue-intelligence schemes and applied the prior precedent governing the Bihar and Orissa Excise Act. Once the confessional statement was excluded, the remaining material, consisting only of the appellant's presence with the co-accused and the co-accused's statement, was insufficient to sustain the conviction. The conviction and sentence were set aside and the appellant was acquitted.

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Issues: Whether the appellant's alleged confessional statement made to the Superintendent of Excise was admissible in evidence, and whether the remaining material was sufficient to sustain the conviction.

Analysis: The decisive question was whether an Excise Officer under the Bihar and Orissa Excise Act answers to the description of a police officer for the purpose of Section 25 of the Indian Evidence Act. The prior authority treating such an officer as a police officer under the Bihar and Orissa Excise Act was held to govern the point. The later decisions dealing with officers under the Central Excises and Salt Act and the revenue intelligence framework were distinguished on the basis of the different statutory schemes. The alleged confession to the Superintendent of Excise was therefore inadmissible. Once that statement was excluded, the remaining circumstances that the appellant was found with the co-accused and the co-accused's statement could not by themselves form the sole foundation for conviction.

Conclusion: The confessional statement was inadmissible, and the conviction could not be sustained on the remaining material. The appellant was entitled to acquittal.

Final Conclusion: The conviction and sentence were set aside, and the appellant was acquitted and ordered to be released forthwith if not required in any other case.

Ratio Decidendi: A confession made to an Excise Officer functioning as a police officer under the governing excise statute is inadmissible under Section 25 of the Indian Evidence Act, and a conviction cannot rest solely on such excluded confession together with an uncorroborated co-accused statement.

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