SARABJIT SINGH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY means of this writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner, a detenu, seeks quashing of the order of detention F.No. 673/67/95/OUS VIII dated June 22, 1995, Annexure P-1, passed by the Joint Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue (respondent No. 2) under Section 3 sub-section (1) of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 (as amended).

(2.) THE petitioner was detained with a view to prevent him in future from engaging in transporting smuggled goods. The facts which emerge from the grounds of detention, Annexure P-2, involving the petitioner in smuggling activity may be narrated briefly as under.

(3.) THE officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence called two independent witnesses and in their presence, the aforesaid persons were interrogated. A search was also made of the Contessa car and the two scooterists. The search yielded recovery of a sum of Rs. 60,14,002.40 comprising the equivalent of Rs. 59,03,002.40 in foreign currency and a sum of Rs. 1,11,000.00 in Indian currency. The four persons mentioned above including the petitioner admitted about their participation in the process of handing over/taking over the sale proceeds of smuggled gold in foreign currency and they further admitted that the recovered foreign currency and the Indian currency was the sum received out of the sale of smuggled gold biscuits.