PATEL, J. :- This group of appeals arises out of a prosecution against these appellants and some others for offences of conspiracy under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code for importing and bringing into India gold in contravention of the provisions of the Sea Customs Act 1878 read with the relevant Notifications and individual charges against several accused in respect of certain individual transactions. In the complaint 40 persons were named as defendants, out of whom defendants Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 36, 38, 39 and 40 only were amenable to the process of the Court. Rest of the defendants were not amenable to the process of the Court inasmuch as many were foreigners and some had absconded.

2. Defendants Nos. 1, 2 and 3, who are brothers, are referred to as Shuhaibar brothers and are of Beirut. Defendant No. 4 Yusuf Lori alias Adulla apparently is from Baherein. Juan Casanovas. defendant No. 5, is of Geneva. Defendant No. 18 Bernardo Sas is of Geneva Defendant No. 19 Hamad Sultan of Bombay had absconded and was not available. Defendant No. 20 Mrs. Giselt Minot. Defendant No. 21 B.J. Lupi, defendant No. 22 J.P. Hoffman defendant No. 23 Jacques Minot, defendant No. 24 Geoffre Allan, defendant No. 25 M. Torrens. defendant No. 26 Mrs. Mora Margaret, defendant No. 27 Armand Yavereowaski, defendant No. 28 Grant Powell, defendant No. 29 G.J. Flamant, defendant No. 30 Mrs. A. Ramel, defendant No. 31 Mrs. S.B Taylor, defendant No. 32 J.C. Catino. defendant No. 33 E.D. Gill, defendant No. 34 A.J. Mascardo and defendant No. 35 A. A. Grant are all foreigners and were concerned as carriers of gold from foreign countries to either Delhi, Calcutta or Bombay.

3. Defendant No. 14 Parsuram Kanel is the brother-in-law of defendant No. 6 Lakshmandas alias Sham. Defendant No. 7 Rabiyabai is the mother of defendant No. 9 Rukaiyabai and defendant No. 10 Abidabai. Defendant No. 9 is the wife of defendant No. 8 Mohamed Hussain alias Mr. Buick alias Naznen. Thus, he is also the son-in-law of defendant No. 7. Defendant No. 8 originally was residing with his mother at Ismail Building, Erankine Road upto 1953, and thereafter he shifted to another place. It is alleged he had a Buick car and he earned alias of Mr. Buick. Defendant No. 33 Hassan Usman is the son of defendant No. 7. He is, thus the brother of defendants Nos. 9 and 10 and brother-in-law of defendant No. 8. Defendant No. 11 Murad has absconded after his conviction jumping bail. Defendant No. 12 Magarilal and defendant No. 13 Mafatlal are running a partnership shop known as Maganlal Maneklal and Co., and reside at Linking Road Khar. The firm does business in bullion in Jhaveri Bazaar and defendant No. 12 Maganlal is the leading partner. Defendant No. 15 N.S. Rao is a neighbour of the main witness in the case Yusuf Merchant who was the axle of the whole organization. He is an engineer in the Air-India International. Similarly, defendants Nos. 16 and 17. Mukherji and Miranda, are mechanics in the Air-India International Defendant No. 36 Francis Bello alias Bell is an employee of Messrs. Trade Wings. Defendant No. 37 Chunilal alias Professor Kamal alias Dwarkadas was absconding Defendant No. 39 Deshmukh is an employed in the Air-India International as a mechanic and so also defendant No. 40 Jocob alias Tambaku.

4. The investigation started with the information received by the Customs Offices to the effect that gold was being transported into India by a particular flight of the plane 'Rani of Jhansi' to arrive at Santacruz Airport on February 1, 1959. As a result of this information the Customs Officers led by Ramchandran (P.W. 146), the Deputy Director Revenue Intelligence, New Delhi, remained present at the airport at 7.00 p.m. on that day. Immediately after its arrival when the plane was searched under the instructions of Ramchandran by Pinto (P.W. 34), Inspector of Customs, large quantity of gold was found concealed in the plane, and it was seized under a Panc