Judgment

SHARMA, J. :- The petitioner has challenged his order of detention made under S. 3(l) of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 (hereinafter referred to as the COFEPOSA). He filed an application under Art. 226 of the Constitution before the Delhi High Court, being Writ Petition No. 219 of 1987, which was dismissed by the judgment dated 29-10-1987, impugned in the S.L.P. (Crl) 3115 of 1987. He has also filed an application directly before this Court under Art. 32 of the Constitution which has been registered as Criminal Writ Petition No. 630 of 1987.

2. In January, 1987, on receipt of a confidential information by the Directorate of Enforcement, Delhi Zone, New Delhi, that a group of persons were engaged in illegal activities causing remittances of large amounts of money to foreign countries, an inquiry was instituted. It appeared that the remittances were ostensibly made for import of certain goods on the basis of forged documents and actually goods were not received from outside. Information collected in the course of inquiry disclosed that number of persons were engaged in the criminal activities and were operating through fiv