CUSTOMS Vs. SURENDER KUMAR JAIN & ORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Five accused were named in the complaint filed by the Customs Department alleging that they had committed an offence punishable under Section 135(1)(a) of the Customs Act, 1962. They were : (i) Ganji Satyanarayana Dasu; (ii) Padmanabhan; (iii) Naresh Jain; (iv) Surender Jain; and (v) Prakash.

(2.) The case of the customs was that on June 22, 1995 Ganji Satyanarayana Dasu (A-1) attempted to smuggle gold into India from Dubai. Upon arriving at IGI airport, he declared 42 gold biscuits weighing 4.914 kgs and 3 silver bricks weighing 99.97 kgs, however, upon inspection of the silver bricks in the preventive room by custom officers it was found that the silver bricks contained gold, which had not been declared. The custom officers allowed Ganji Satyanarayana Dasu to exit the arrival hall and followed him in plain clothes. He was approached by A-2 to A-4 and thereafter all 4 accused were apprehended. A-1 to A-3 gave their statements under Section 108 of Customs Act, 1962 but these were later retracted. A-5 was supposed to be the driver of the car in which A-1 to A-4 had to leave the precincts of the airport.

(3.) After recording pre-charge evidence, the learned ACMM discharged the accused observing that the sanction Ex.PW-1/B was not valid because the sanctioning authority had not been examined; there was a material omission in not presenting the retraction of the accused persons before the sanctioning authority at the time of grant of sanction; the panch witnesses who had witnessed the recovery of gold from Ganji Satyanarayana A-1 had not been examined and offence under Section 135(1)(a) of the Customs Act, 1962 was not made out against A-2 to A-5.