Criminal Revision No.1707 of 2002 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH Criminal Revision No.1707 of 2002 Date of Decision: April 28, 2009 Karnail Singh @ Baghiar ...........Petitioner Versus Assistant Commissioner, Customs House, Amritsar ..........Respondent Coram: Hon'ble Mrs. Justice Sabina Present: Mr.Arunjit Singh Kakkar,Advocate, for Mr.D.S.Pheruman, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr.G.S.Ghuman, Advocate for the respondent ** Sabina, J. Petitioner was convicted under Section 135 of the Customs Act, 1962 (`the Act' for short) vide judgment dated 20.9.2002 by the Chief Judicial Magistrate Amritsar. Vide order of even date, petitioner was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay a fine of Rs.5000/- . Aggrieved by the same, petitioner preferred an appeal and the same was affirmed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Amritsar vide judgment dated 18.7.2002. Hence, the present revision petition. The brief facts of the case, as noticed by the Appellate Court in paras 2 to 4 of its judgment, are as under:- “ Case of the prosecution as put forth in the complaint was that Criminal Revision No.1707 of 2002 2 during the night intervening 5/6.4.1995 Customs Staff, Amritsar along with anti smuggling staff of Punjab Police laid a naka near Doake drain bridge. At about 4 a.m. on 6.4.1995, one person was seen coming on a scooter. He was stopped and on enquiry revealed his identity as Karnail Singh alias Baghiar son of Behal Singh, resident of plot No.60, Jaspal Nagar, Sultanwind Road, Amritsar. It being very dark and in view of the security reasons he along with the scooter was taken to the Customs House, Amritsar, where thorough rummaging of the scooter was undertaken by Inspector Jaswinder Singh in the presence of Jasbir Singh and Sucha Singh, independent witnesses. Foreign currency of different denominations valued at Rs.10,66,975/- was recovered from the search of the scooter. Recovery cum seizure memo was prepared at the spot which was attested by aforesaid independent witnesses and was thumb marked by the appellant in token of its correctness. On demand, the appellant could not produce any evidence to justify possession/exportation/acquisition or transportation of the recovered forged currency notes. Foreign currency and scooter (Bajaj Chetak bearing registration No. PB- 02-D-7278) was taken into possession and was seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962 (In short `the Act'). 3. On 6.4.1995 and 8.4.1995 during the course of investigation, the appellant suffered voluntary statement before Shri S.K.Luthra, Superintendent , Customs Amritsar without there being any threat or promise. In his statements, the appellant admitted recovery of foreign currency from him and also that the said currency was Criminal Revision No.1707 of 2002 3 given to him by Satnam Singh alias Satta Thekedar to deliever it to Lakha Singh alias Jassa Singh and that he did not know the addresses of Satnam Singh and Lakha Singh,aforesaid. 4. After obtaining the sanction for prosecution, as required under Section 137(1) of the Customs Act and on completion of all other formalities complaint under Section 135 of the Act was filed" After hearing the learned counsel for the parties and going through the record of the case, this petition deserves to be dismissed. In the present case, on 6.4.1995 at about 4.00 P.M., petitioner came from the side of Amritsar on Scooter bearing No. PB-02-D- 7278. He was signaled to stop by the custom officials. Petitioner disclosed his identity to the custom officials. Petitioner along with his Scooter was taken to Customs House, Amritsar. From the Scooter of the petitioner, foreign currency notes of different denomination of value of Rs.10,66,975/- were recovered. The same were taken in possession vide recovery memo Exhibit PA which was duly thumb marked by the petitioner. The numbers of recovered currency notes were noted down vide Exhibit PE and each page of said Exhibit is duly thumb marked by the petitioner. The statement of the petitioner Exhibit PC was recorded by PW1, Inspector Jaswinder Singh which is duly thumb marked by the petitioner. In order to prove its case, prosecution examined PW1, Inspector Jaswinder Singh, who has deposed as per the prosecution story. PW2 G.S.Gill, Superintendent has duly corroborated the statement of PW1. There is nothing on record to suggest that the prosecution witnesses had falsely involved the petitioner in this case due to enmity or any other Criminal Revision No.1707 of 2002 4 extraneous considerations. A huge amount of foreign currency was recovered from the petitioner. Both the Courts below, after going through the evidence on record, have rightly convicted and sentenced the petitioner under Section 135 of the Act. No interference is called for. Dismissed. (Sabina) Judge April 28,2009 arya