Power to search without a warrant

Whenever any Excise Officer not below such rank as the State Government may, by notification, prescribe, has reason to believe that an offence punishable under Section 47, Section 49, Section 55 or Section 56 has been, is being, or is likely to be, committed or abetted, and that a search warrant cannot be obtained without affording the offender an opportunity of escaping or of conceling evidence of the offence. he may, after recording the grounds of his belief, at any time by day or night enter and search any place, and may seize anything found therein which he has reason to believe to be liable to confiscation under this Act; and may detain and search, and if he thinks proper, arrest any person found in such place whom he has reason to believe to have committed or abetted any such offence as aforesaid.