K RAJENDRAN NAIR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petition is under Art. 226 of the Constitution of India for issue of writ of Habeas Corpus directing the immediate release of the petitioner who is under detention by virtue of an order dt. 2nd May 1985 of Shri K. K. Dwivedi, respondent No. 2. The order was passed under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act').

(2.) The relevant facts are as follows. On Jan. 9, 1985 on receipt of a secret information, the officers of the Trivandrum Sub-Zone of the Enforcement Directorate searched the residence of the petitioner situated at Trivandrum. As a result of the search, a number of foreign letters, local letters, passbooks of the petitioner and his wife and one S. Valsalakumari were seized. On that very day the statement of the petitioner was recorded by the Enforcement Officer, Trivandrum. In that statement, the petitioner admitted that under instructions from Shri P. S. Vaidyanathan, 1894, Cornelia Street, Ridgewood, Queens, New York, U.S.A. received during the years 1984 and 1985, the former made payments to the tune of Rs. 4,00,000/- to various persons in India. It was also stated by the petitioner that he was receiving the aforesaid instructions through letters and telegrams and that sometimes his wife Smt. Padma Kumari, an employee of Food Corporation of India, used to receive telephone calls from said Vaidyanathan from New York intimating the addresses of the persons to whom the amounts were to be paid. The petitioner in that statement revealed that he had purchased drafts from different banks and sent to different persons as per the instructions of said Vaidyanathan. The particulars of those banks are mentioned in his statement. Further the particulars of the payments to different persons are also mentioned in the said statement.

(3.) The Directorate of Enforcement started investigation. On Jan. 30, 1985 statement of the petitioner was recorded again. On Jan. 31, 1985 he was arrested and produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate who granted bail up to 14th Feb. 1985 which was later on extended. On 18th Feb. 1985 further statement of the petitioner was recorded by an Enforcement Officer.