9911796707
TMI Blog1987 (7) TMI 117X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ences on the allegation that the accused No. 1, a resident of Surat was knowing the Petitioner - the accused No.3 who was a clerk in the State Bank at Surat, as the accused No.1 was an account holder in that bank. The wife of the accused No.3 was a partner in Pioneer Construction Company and the accused No.1 used to give contracts of construction to the said firm in the tune of about Rs.16 lakhs. The accused No.1 approached the Petitioner for suggesting some person in whose name the accused No.1 could carry on business benami. The accused No. 1 was to carry on the business of Import of blank TDK audio cassette tapes manufactured at Japan under Duty Exemption Entitlement Certificate Scheme for the purpose of recording the same and re-exporti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d to Bittu Cassette Recorders at Surat, when the major portion of the consignment was in fact sold in the local market. 4. Now the case as against the Petitioner - the original accused No.3 is that he is a party to the aforesaid fraud, whereby the accused had deprived the State of the Customs duty payable on the said cassette tapes. Apart from the material reproduced hereinabove as against the Petitioner, it is further case of the Prosecution that on the evening of the 30th September 1984 the accused No.1 called the Petitioner on phone to the Surat railway station so as to accompany him to Bombay as there was some trouble regarding the consignments of the cassette tapes imported by accused No.1 in the name of Bittu Cassette Recorders which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rding to him there was no prima facie case or material collected by the Prosecution as against the Petitioner which could justify the issue of that process as against the Petitioner. Even if all the material is accepted at its face value, an order of conviction cannot be passed as against the Petitioner. He, therefore, prayed for quashing the said process. 120th July 1987.] 6. In my judgment, the aforesaid contentions of Shri Kotwal are justified and deserve to be accepted. I have reproduced hereinabove the entire material collected by the Prosecution as against the Petitioner and I am of the view that even if the said material is accepted as against the Petitioner, the same cannot result in an order of conviction for the offences with whi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... unrebutted, is such on the basis of which a conviction can be said to be reasonably possible. In the instant case there is no material on record on the basis of which any tribunal could reasonably come to the conclusion that the Petitioner was in any manner connected with the offences in question. 8. The Petitioner is a Clerk working in a Bank at Surat. The accused No. 1 being an account holder in that bank had got friendly with the Petitioner. Moreover the accused No. 1 used to give construction contracts to the firm Pioneer Construction Company of which his wife was a partner. The Petitioner knew accused No. 2 as he happened to be a cousin of his co-employee in the bank. Now though accused No. 2 is shown to be a man of straw and working ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... some doubt against the Petitioner but I am not prepared to hold on the basis of that circumstance alone that the Petitioner was a party to the commission of the offences with the other accused. 9. Shri Patwardhan on placing reliance upon the statements of the Petitioner dated the 22nd October 1984 and 23rd October 1984, submitted that the said statements were confessional statements of the Petitioner and the same could be acted upon, especially when they are corroborated by the confessional statements of accused No. 1. In my view there is no merit in this contention. I have gone through the aforesaid statements of the Petitioner and I do not find them to be confessional statements and hence there can arise no question of seeking corrobora ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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