Senior Intelligence Officer vs Jugal Kishore Samra

3. The facts and circumstances in which this appeal arises need to be noticed first. On July 20, 2006, the officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (for short "DRI") Hyderabad, raided the premises of M/s Hy- Gro Chemicals Pharmatek Private Ltd. and found a shortage of 250kgs of 2 Dextropropoxyphene Hydrochloride (DPP HCL). DPP HCL is a manufactured narcotic drug as specified in Government of India's notification S.O. 826(E), dated November 14, 1985, at Serial no.87.

4. C.K. Bishnoi (accused no.1) and P.V.Satyanarayana Raju (accused no.2), the Managing Director and the Production Manager, respectively, of M/s Hy-Gro Chemicals Pharmatek Private Ltd., admitted that the drug was clandestinely cleared to M/s J. K. Pharma Agencies, New Delhi, of which the respondent, Jugal Kishore Samra and his brother, Ramesh Kumar Samra (accused no.3) happen to be the partners. On the next day, i.e., July 21, 2006, a search was carried out at the Cargo Complex of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, and five drums containing DPP HCL were discovered. On examination of the cargo it was found that the contraband was manufactured by M/s Hy-Gro Chemicals Pharmatek Pvt. Ltd. and was sent to M/s J.K. Pharma Agencies by wrongly declaring the consignment as 5-Amino Salicylic Acid. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence registered a case against C.K. Bishnoi, P.V.Satyanarayana Raju and Ramesh Kumar Samra for the offences punishable under sections 21 and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (for short "NDPS Act").

5. While the statements of accused no.1 and accused no.2 had already been recorded under section 67 of the NDPS Act, the DRI officials summoned the respondent and his brother (accused no.3). According to the respondent, on November 5, 2006, when he, accompanied by his brother and 3 another person arrived at the DRI office in, Hyderabad, at 10:30pm, they were tortured by the DRI Officials. Unable to withstand the torture, the respondent suffered a heart attack and was moved to a hospital. The respondent was discharged on November 7, 2006 and advised complete bed rest for a month. But he went directly to the DRI Office to enquire about the whereabouts of his brother. He was kept waiting for 2 days and was also given threats of third degree methods. On November 9, 2006, en route to the DRI Office, the respondent developed chest pain and was again hospitalized till November 11, 2006.

8. Aggrieved by the order of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge dated December 1, 2006, the appellant moved the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Crl. M.P. No.5772 of 2006 praying for cancellation of the anticipatory bail granted to the respondent. The High Court found no merit in the petition and dismissed it by order dated January 31, 2007.

10. Coming back to the case of the respondent, aggrieved by the order of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge dated December 15, 2006 directing for the respondent's interrogation to take place only in presence of his lawyer, the appellant sought to challenge it in revision before the High Court in Crl. R. 5 C. No.300 of 2007. The High Court dismissed the revision petition by order dated March 22, 2007, upholding the order of the Sessions Judge and observing as follows:

13. Nandini Satpathy, a former Chief Minister of the State of Orissa was named as one of the accused in a case registered under sections 5 (2) read with section 5 (1) (d) & (e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947, and under sections 161, 165 and 120B and 109 of the Penal Code on the allegation of amassing assets disproportionate to her known and licit sources of income. For interrogation in connection with that case she was sent a long questionnaire along with summons to appear before the investigating officer on the fixed date and time and to answer those questions. She did not appear before the investigating officer as required by the summons where-upon the investigating officer filed a complaint against her under section 179 of the Penal Code. The Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate took cognizance of the offence and issued process against her. Questioning the order of the magistrate as violative of her right to silence she challenged it first before 7 the High Court of Orissa and on being unsuccessful there brought the matter to this Court.

24. In the end, the Court allowed the appeal filed by the Revenue authorities in the case in which the High Court had directed for interrogation to take place in presence of the advocate and dismissed all the other appeals in the batch on behalf of the individuals in whose cases the High Court had declined to give any such direction.

29. The order passed by the Metropolitan Sessions Judge and affirmed by the High Court is substituted by the aforesaid directions made by us.

31. In the result, the orders passed by the High Court and the Metropolitan Session Judge are set aside and the appeal is allowed to the extent indicated above.

.........................................J (AFTAB ALAM) .........................................J (R.M. LODHA) New Delhi, July 5, 2011.