VIPIN CHOWDHARY Vs. COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal has been filed by the appellant against the adjudication order -in -original dated 4 -6 -1998 passed by Commissioner of Customs, Lucknow imposing penalty of Rs. 1,00,000/ - on him under Section 112(b) of the Customs Act. The facts giving rise to this appeal may briefly be stated as under.

(2.) ON receipt of secret information, the officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Gorkhpur along with two independent witnesses intercepted truck No. DL -IG -A -2085 on 18 -2 -1997 at 3.45 pm at Chandaul Bazar, District Varanasi. After disclosing their identity, they apprised the driver of the truck of their intention to take search. The driver, on interrogation, disclosed his name as Sattan Rai, R/o Vill. Piprahi, P.O. Ratanpur. Similarly, the cleaner disclosed his name as Navi Lal Mehta, r/o Vill. Bhagvanpur, Distt. Supaul, Bihar. Another occupant of the truck, revealed his name as Raju Yadav. All the three were thoroughly interrogated and the truck was taken to the office of the DRI, Varanasi and on search, it was found to contain small packages of silk yarn which were fitted below the wooden plates at the bottom of the truck. The cabin of the truck was also found to contain silk yarn packages. One of the packages had a sticker in English "FINDINGS CHINA NATIONAL SILK IMP and EXP. CORP." and on some packets, something was written in Chinese language. The total packages recovered from the truck were 280 and each packet had average weight of 2.35 kgs. Raju Yadav, on interrogation, also disclosed that he boarded the truck from Biratnagar, Nepal and the goods i.e. silk yarn packets, were owned by three persons namely, Ram Swaroop, Vipin Chowdhury (appellant) and Vijay Choudhury. He further disclosed that all these three persons are indulging in the smuggling of the contraband goods and he had been employed by Vipin Chowdhury on monthly salary of Rs. 3,000/ -. He was entrusted with the job of delivering the goods from Biratnagar to Banaras and he had taken the goods to that place 7 -8 times earlier also. He also further disclosed that in fact, his correct name is Mithilesh Chowdhury. His statement along with that of the driver and the cleaner, was recorded separately. After completing the adjudication proceedings, the Commissioner of Customs through impugned order imposed penalty of Rs. 25,000/ - on Mithilesh Chowdhury, Rs. 5,000/ - on Bindeshwar Rai, Rs. 2,000/ - on Navi Lal Mehta and of Rs. 1 lac each, on Vipin Choudhury (appellant) and Vijay Chowdhary.

(3.) FEELING aggrieved by this order, Vipin Chowdhury has come up in appeal before the Tribunal.