STATE OF MAHARASHTRA Vs. ABDUL SATTAR MOHAMMEDBHAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) One Haji Mohamed Moosa has three sons, Abdul Aziz who works in Dubai, Abdul Razak and Abdul Hamid. Abdul Hamid deals in silver under the name and style of sunshine Traders. According to prosecution A13 Haji Mohamed Moosa, his two sons A14 Abdul Razak and A7 Abdul Hamid along with some others imported contraband goods of foreign origin into India somewhere near Surat in the State of Gujarat and in pursuance of the above conspiracy on or about 19/20th September, 1969 A7 met A1 Abdul Razak Abdul Gani near Crawford Market at Bombay and proceeded towards Surat. They stayed in the house of one Abdul Gafoor Mohamedbhai-A9. The next day A5-Mohamed Bilal called on A9-Abdul Gafoor and in furtherance of and to effectuate their object an ambassador car GJC 4505 was purchased at Surat for the price of Rs. 15000/-. Though the consideration for the car flew from A7-Abdul Hamid the R.T.O. forms were filled in showing A1 the owner thereof- that is as a benamidar.

(2.) Next day in pursuance of the conspiracy the accused loaded imported goods in truck near the seashore of Dhumas near Surat and camouflaged the same with gunny bags containing Dal. A2 along with a sikh driver came to Dhamus in a truck and A1, A3, A4, A5 and A6 along with others loaded goods in the truck which was sent to Bombay for sale. According to the prosecution even though the contraband was worth about Rs. 5,00,000/- the truck escaped detection. This was a first incident.

(3.) Emboldened by their first successful attempt the conspirators again loaded similar contraband goods on 24-9-1969 in a truck MHB-2816 on the seashore of Dhumas. A2 accompanied by A11 (since deceased) and A12 the cleaner were first to go to Dhumas for loading goods. A1, A3, A4, A5 and A6 and some unknown persons also came to Dhumas and operations were directed by A7 who was acting on behalf of his father Haji Mohamed Moosa and brother Abdul Razak. A7 fixed the haulage charges of the truck at Rs. 1200/- and after the truck was loaded it was piloted by the recently purchased Ambassador car and the two vehicles came near a plantain groove. A station wagon in which A8, A9 and A10 were seated was waiting for them. Some of the occupants of the car and the wagon interchanged their places and the convoy left for Bombay with the car in the lead and the station wagon trailing behind the truck. A5 asked the driver of the ambassador car to note down the number of the truck in case of difficulty in spotting the same. To avoid detection a circuitous road via Naisk was taken instead of the usual one. The convey reached Chikhali Phata at about 8-30 a.m. on 25th September, 1969 at the crossing of Gujarat-Nasik road and Ahmedabad Bombay Road. When the convoy came some 30 miles near Nasik near the village Ambaner a police posy ordered it to halt after putting road blockades. Sensing danger the driver A11 and the cleaner A12 made efforts to run away. Upon search the truck was found to contain packages of imported articles. A panchnama was drawn up and the station wagon and the car were brought to Nasik for a more detailed panchanama. A7 had instructed A1 to A6 and A8 to A12 that he would be waiting at a predetermined place at Chaar Rasta at Bhiwandi and had also given Rs. 4000/- to A1 to be used as hush money should an occasion arise. In the search a sum of Rs. 3883/- being the balance out of this 4000 was found in pant-pocket of A1. After learning that Haji Moosa and his two sons are carrying on the business under the banner of Sunshine Traders the residence of A7 was searched in which a letter from Dubai containing reference to Safed Machhi which is generally used as a code name for silver was recovered. The value of the goods was Rs. 4,10,923/-. After obtaining sanction under section 137(1) of the Customs Act the accused were arraigned before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, 8th Court, Esplanade Bombay who convicted A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A8, A9 and A10 under section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and under section 135(a) and (b) read with section 135(1) of the Customs Act and also under section 5 of Imports and Exports (Control) Act, 1947 to 6 months R.I. and fine of Rs. 3000/- i.d. 3 months R.I.