KIRPAL MOHAN VIRMANI Vs. TARUN ROY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) With a view to prevent Shri KirpalMohan Virmani, the present petitioner, from smuggling goods and abetting the smuggling of goods Shri Tarun Roy, Joint Secretary to the Government of India passed an order of his detention under the COFEPOSA Act (hereinafter referred to as theAct) on 5/11/1986. The subjective satisfaction isbased on the following circumstances :

(2.) On a specific information that truck No. DEL 3124 iscarrying Hashish concealed inside the machinery items, theofficers of the Customs Preventive Collectorate, West Bengalsucceeded in iniercepting the truck at Mogra on 12/07/1986and apprehended its three occupants, S/Shri Joginder Singh,and Shiv Raj Singh. drivers and Ranjit Singh, cleaner. Ondetailed examination, it was found to be carrying two consignments comprising of 30 cases, containing 660 pieces of frontand rear engine mounting. M/s. Northern Exports, 116 HariNagar, New Delhi, was the consigner. This machinery wasmeant for export to M/s. Nazi Handi Altharthi Est. Jedda(Saudi Arabia). Another consignment comprising of four packages containing one power press and two pieces of hand-operatedpress consigned by M/s. Modern Machinery and Instruments,Parmanand Colony, Delhi was meant for export to InternationalTraders Ltd., London. On close examination of the said machinery items, the Customs Officers recovered 743 kg. of Hashishconcealed inside the machinery. The said consignment forexport, were meant to be cleared through M]s. Lee and Muir-head (P) Ltd. India and M/s. Sheikh and Pandit, Calcutta. Themachinery alongwith Hashish and the truck were seized underthe provisions of the Customs Act, 1968 and Narcotic Drugsand Psychotropic Act. Later on, the business and residentialpremises of the clearing agents were searched but nothing incriminating was recovered.

(3.) Shri Joginder Singh, driver of the truck in his statementdisclosed that the seized truck belonged to Shri Gopal Singh,who was running the same with a Transport Company, in thename and style of Nice Goods Carriers, Azad Market, Delhi.He also disclosed that the owner of the said transport companyis Harnam Singh, at whose instance he had gone to Mehraulion 6/07/1986 to pick up the machinery items. The loadingoperation was supervised by one Gurdeep Singh along with another person named Nirmal. Shri Shiv Raj Singh and Shri RanJit Singh in their statements corroborated Joginder Singh in allits material particulars.