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TMI Blog1971 (7) TMI 59X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ved and the appeal should be heard and disposed of in case of those accused who have been served. In these circumstances we are hearing this appeal only in respect of original accused Nos. 4, 5, 8 and 9. The observations which we may make about the facts are, therefore, confined to these four accused only and nothing is intended to be said which would affect the State's appeal in any manner in respect of the remaining accused. 2.The prosecution case is that A. C. Deputy Superintendent of Police Shri Besadia instructed Sub-Inspector Lagali of the Anti-Corruption Bureau to go and keep a watch for a mechanised Arab Dhow, which was expected to arrive in the Indian waters with a view to smuggle goods. The instruction was that in the night betw ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... list of packages and the merchandised price list of the articles in the packages. According to Lagali, he waited till about 2.30 a.m. for the arrival of the mechanised fishing vessel, which was to take away the articles from the Dhow for the purpose of smuggling them within the Indian territory. As none arrived, both the vessels were brought to Reti Bunder by about 7.15 a.m. on 10th December 1969. Information was conveyed to A.C.B. Office whereupon Besadia along with other members of the staff and panchas arrived at 8 a.m. A panchanama was made at the Reti Bunder and the articles were thereafter transferred to the A.C. Office. A second panchanama was made there after opening the packages. Twenty packages out of the 24 contained wrist watche ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ertain Dubai currency he was also charged independently under Section 8(1) read with Section 23(1-A) of the Foreign Exchange Regulations Act. In the same manner as accused No. 6 was found in possession of Dubai currency and Indian currency he was charged under Section 135(a) of the Customs Act as also under Section 111 read with Section 135(a) of the Customs Act. He was further charged under Section 8(1) read with Section 23(1 -A) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947. 4.The defence of all the accused persons at the trial was that they were undoubtedly forcibly brought to Reti Bunder by Sub-Inspector Lagali and that they were not into the Indian Customs' water till when their vessel was overtaken by Lagali by firing several shots a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... points have been raised before us by the learned Counsel appearing for the accused person. Though it is Sub- Inspector Lagali who detected the Arab Dhow and brought it to Reti Bunder, the peculiar feature of the complaint is that there is no reference at all to Lagali in the body of the complaint. Even in the list of witnesses which is a long one, the name of Lagali does not appear at all. Some capital is sought to be made by the learned Counsel appearing for the accused before us of this fact. However, we find that though it is possible to blame the drafts man for a very bad draft, it is difficult to assume that Lagali was not there or that he was not the officer who brought the vessel to Reti Bunder. Apart from what the accused persons h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al could be disposed of so far as respondents accused Nos. 4, 5, 8 and 9, are concerned. 7.The evidence shows that accused No. 1 was the Tandel or captain of the ship and he possessed documents relating to the goods that were stored in the hold. Accused Nos. 4, 5, 8 and 9 who are the respondents against whom the appeal is being heard, appear to be mere manual servants on the ship. In order to bring home several charges against them, an important ingredient of the crime appears to be that the accused persons must know that they are in possession of articles which could not be taken to Indian territory without a specific permit, licence or appropriate order from the Reserve Bank of India in that behalf. Since knowledge is an important ingre ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ub Ahmed in Hindustani and it was accepted by him as correctly recorded. Inspector Divekar in examination-in-chief tries to assert that the accused persons were summoned under Section 108 of the Customs Act and he interrogated them and recorded their statements. However, in the cross-examination he admits that different officers were interrogating different accused at the same time. After the statements of the accused were recorded, they were produced before him for his perusal. He then signed below them. It is therefore obvious that he had not recorded any of these statements at all but he allowed some other officers to record the statements. He merely perused them and signed them after the record was complete. This is not a record of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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