9911796707
TMI Blog2007 (12) TMI 374X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oys". M/s. Swastik Shipping Agency Pvt. Ltd. had handled these consignments as Customs House Clearing Agent. Statements of various persons involved in the clearance of the goods covered by bills of entry dated 20-2-2006 were recorded by the DRI. Shri Niranjan Puthran, Director of the appellants herein, stated that the seized consignments were imported by one Shri Umesh Shetty and that the Import Export Code (IEC) of the firms above mentioned was in the name of Shri Yogesh Merchant who used to provide the IEC to various importers/exporters for export/import of consignments in the name of the above firms for monetary consideration. Shri Puthran admitted that the consignments have been misdeclared in the import documents as plastic parts for t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... his salary for handling the consignments; that after duty was paid he used to deliver the consignments to one Shri Ravi of M/s. Swastik Shipping Agency who used to travel with tempos to the destination as directed by Shri Puthran. In his statement dated 18-7-2006, Shri Puthran stood by his original statement and stated that the retraction dated 22-2-2006 filed by him was not true and correct but was an afterthought on the advice of his advocate. Shri Shetty's statement corroborated the statement of Shri Puthran. 2. In view of the above, it appeared that the appellants had violated Regulations 13(d) and (e) and 20(c) of the CHALR, 2004 and articles of charge were framed against the appellants. The enquiry officers' report found all cha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e his case. Further, independent of the statement of Shri Puthran, there is material on record in the form of statements of Shri Himanshu Ajmera and Shri Ketan Popat to nail the appellant. Further, in Criminal Writ Petition No. 2096 of 2006 filed by the wife of Shri Puthran, challenging the detention order passed under COFEPOSA, the Hon'ble High Court in its order dated 8th August, 2007 has found that the seized consignments were imported by Shri Umesh Shetty who was introduced to Shri Puthran at Sahar Airport; that Shri Puthran offered the Import Export Codes of Shri Yogesh Merchant to Shri Shetty for importing analog watch movements for which Shri Shetty agreed to pay Shri Puthran Rupees One lakh per consignment, and that Shri Puthran can ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... letterheads and declarations in the name of his firms. Yogesh Merchant has stated that he never met the person who had caused the imports to be made and all his dealings were with the detenu. 16. In his statement, Umesh Shetty has stated that the detenu was introduced to him by one Mohan. He told the detenu that he was planning to import analog watch movements which could be declared as "parts of plastic toys" in the import documents. He told the detenu to arrange for Import Export Code. The detenu accordingly procured Import Export Code from Yogesh Merchant. Thereafter, consignments misdeclared as plastic toys were imported by Umesh Shetty and were cleared by the detenu. 17. It is clear, therefore, that the goods belonged to Um ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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