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TMI Blog2005 (6) TMI 429X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 00/- (vii) Shri S. Manivannan : Rs. 10,000/- (viii) Shri Desh Kumar : Rs. 10,000/- Penalty under Section 112(b) : (i) Shri Ramesh Jain : Rs. 1,00,000/- (ii) Shri Mohanlal : Rs. 1,00,000/- (iii) Shri Madhukar Shet : Rs. 1,00,000/- (iv) Shri K.R. Ashwathnarayana : Rs. 1,00,000/- (v) Shri N. Vidyasagar : Rs. 1,00,000/- (vi) Shri B. Devraj Jain : Rs. 50,000/- (vii) Shri P. Nagaraj : Rs. 50,000/- 2.Only the following persons on whom penalty has been imposed have appealed, namely :- (a) Shri C.M. Uthappa Rs. 10 lakhs (b) Shri H.S. Ramakrishna Rs. 10 lakhs (c) M/s. Lufthansa Air Cargo Rs. 5 lakhs The other accused on whom penalties have been imposed have not filed appeal. However, one Shri C. Medappa, Father of Shri C.M. Uttappa, has filed an appeal seeking for release of the cash amount seized from the premises of Shri C.M. Uttappa claiming to be the owner of the cash amount of Rs. 3,61,000/- seized from the residential premises of Shri C.M. Uttappa. The short facts of the case are :- 3.That acting on specific information that the employees of M/s. Lufthansa Cargo International flight and certain other p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... etailed examination at safe place and took the same to Headquarters Customs Office at Queen's Road, along with Shri C.M. Uthappa and J. Vasanth Kumar accompanied by witnesses. On examination of the said package, it was found to be contraband Gold Biscuits 270 nos. of foreign origin, totally weighing 2700 tolas i.e. 31.482 kgs. The same had been stuck at the bottom side of the card board with transparent cellophane tape. All the gold biscuits contained foreign markings and they were valued at Rs. 1,48,75,245/- Besides the gold biscuits, foreign branded 4 Video Cameras of 'National Panasonic' make, Model M-3500 and other accessories were found. All were seized under Mahazar. The said packages were containing foreign marked gold biscuits and video cameras and other accessories and were meant to one person by name Mr. Nasir Therma, residing at 19/6, Ground Floor, 5th Main, 5th Cross, S.K. Garden, Benson Town, Bangalore-46. The officers visited his house but did not find him and two persons by name Mr. Yahya Shabandri and Mr. Abdul Hafeez were present. In the course of search of the said premises, Indian currency of Rs. 53,600/- were found besides a large number of corrugated card boxes ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ocument in the nature of telephone directory containing the telephone numbers of Nasir and C.M. Uthappa. The Customs officials also recorded the statement of Shri Desh Kumar who off-loaded the said parcel. Shri Desh Kumar also implicated Shri H.S. Ramakrishna and also is loading in the Maruti car. The statement of Shri Yahya Shabandri was also recorded who gave the detailed statements implicating Shri H.S. Ramakrishna and Nasir. The premises of one Shri Rajesh Jain of M/s. Mahaveer Refinery was also searched and certain incriminating documents bearing markings "Swiss Gold Jewellery Co. (L.L.C.), Swiss Gold Co., etc. were found. Shri C.M. Uthappa, in his detailed statements, clearly implicated Shri H.S. Ramakrishna and gave incriminating statements involving himself in the smuggling of gold biscuits. He implicated Shri Nasir, Shri Yahya Shabandri also. Shri H.S. Ramakrishna also gave detailed statement implicating himself and the manner of the smuggling of the gold biscuits. Shri Rajesh Jain also likewise implicated Shri C.M. Uthappa and others. On the basis of these investigations, the appellants were charged under various provisions of Customs Act for indulging in smuggling. &ems ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... not been provided with the cross-examination of the officers and, therefore, the entire findings is not sustainable and the penalty imposed should be set aside. 8.The learned Counsel Shri B.V. Kumar submitted that all the documents pertaining to the import manifest had been filed which were in order. Thus the original documents have been seized from the residence of Shri C.M. Uthappa. Therefore, Shri Uthappa had committed the offence without the knowledge of the Airliner and, therefore, the Airliners cannot be implicated in the matter and imposed with penalty. He referred to the judgment of Garware Shipping Corporation & Others v. J.H. Joglekar - 1984 (15) E.L.T. 375 (Bom.); Mugul Line Ltd. v. A.K. Dutt - 1990 (45) E.L.T. 382 (Bombay); Air India v. Addl. Collector of Customs (P) - 1993 (67) E.L.T. 400 (T); Akbar Badruddin Jiwani v. Collector of Customs - 1990 (47) E.L.T. 161 (S.C.) and prayed for setting aside the penalty on the Airliner as there was no involvement and the employee had done without the knowledge of the Airlines. He pointed out that it is a normal practice of Airlines/Carriers to accept the description as given in the Airway Bill. The same description gets re ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed on Shri C.M. Uthappa and Shri H.S. Ramakrishna is less than 10% of the value of the gold involved. They have been carrying on the activity for long and they have gone undetected. Therefore, there is no requirement for scaling down the penalty imposed. The penalty imposed on Shri H.S. Ramakrishna and Shri C.M. Uthappa to an extent of Rs. 10 lakhs each is confirmed. 11.In so far as the appeal of Shri C.M. Medappa claiming the seized currency of Rs. 3,61,000/- from the premises of Shri C.M. Uthappa is concerned, we find that the same has been rightly rejected by the Commissioner. Shri C.M. Medappa did not lodge his claim for a long period. Subsequently he came up with the plea that the cash was given by him to his son Shri C.M. Uthappa for the purpose of purchasing a flat. No corroborative evidence has been produced to show that the currency is not tainted proceeds of smuggling while in fact Shri C.M. Uthappa had admitted the same to be proceeds and fruits of smuggling. The confiscation of the cash amount of Rs. 3,61,000/- is justified and upheld. The appeal of Shri H.S. Ramakrishna and Shri C.M. Uthappa and Shri C.M. Medappa are dismissed. 12.Smt. Sushheela Ramakrish ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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