JUDGMENT :

Vipin Sanghi, J.

1. The petitioner has preferred the present writ petition to assail the Detention Order bearing No. PD-12002/05/20-COFEPOSA dated 05.06.2020 (hereinafter referred to as the "Detention Order") issued against the petitioner by Respondent No. 2-Joint Secretary, COFEPOSA, Government of India under Section 3(1) of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 (hereinafter referred to as "COFEPOSA ACT"). The Respondent Authorities have not been able to execute the Detention Order prior to, and even after filing of the present writ petition. The Petitioner has, thus, not yet been served with either the Detention Order, or the Grounds of Detention, or the Relied upon Documents.

Brief Factual Matrix

2. On the night of 1st February, 2019, on the basis of certain specific intelligence that items, such as drones, gold and cigarettes would be smuggled in commercial quantities, one Mr. Gaganjot Singh and one Mr. Gurpreet Singh were interrupted at the IGI Airport upon their arrival from overseas. Contraband items such as drones, foreign branded cigarettes etc were recovered from both of them. On being questioned about the items, Mr. Gaganjot Singh admitted that he along with Mr. Gurpreet had bought the items to sell in the Indian market and gain profits, and revealed that his brother (Petitioner herein) would also be arriving with other people via the connecting flight no. KU 381 from Kuwait to Delhi, smuggling similar contraband items into the Indian Territory. Consequently, on the intervening night of 01.02.19 and 02.02.19, at around 1:30 am, the Petitioner and certain other passengers, namely, Amarjeet Singh, Saurabh Chopra and Sumit Verma arrived at IGI Airport, from Dubai by Kuwait Airways flight No. KU381. While the Petitioner and other passengers were collecting their suitcases from the conveyer belt, the Petitioner was taken to Customs Arrival Hall at IGI Airport, New Delhi. A detailed examination of the bags belonging to the petitioner was conducted, from which the following items were recovered:

i. 112 Benson & Hedges Cigarette dandas kept in checked-in Fabric Zipper Baggage having tag No. KU 326359 and 108 Benson & Hedges Cigarette dandas kept in transparent polythene then wrapped with Black colour polythene (without any Tag) and one hand bag containing 18 Dandas of Benson & Hedges Cigarette (without tag);

ii. Boarding Pass of Flight No. KU 381 dated 01.02.2019 (Kuwait to Delhi) having seat No. 2H;

iii. Indian Passport No. Z5317414 issued on 16.01.2019.;

iv. One Vivo Y53 Mobile Phone having Vodafone Sim No. 8860253525 as disclosed by Pax;

v. AED 300/-

vi. 02 bottles of Chivas Regal 12 YO whisky.

vii. Personal effect-old and used

3. After effecting recoveries, a Panchnama was prepared and total value of Benson & Hedges cigarettes recovered from the Petitioner was Rs. 7,14,000/- (Seven Lakh Fourteen Thousand Rupees only). The total value of the recovered and seized goods from these four passengers was calculated to be Rs. 1,09,74,500/-.

4. On 2nd February, 2019, the Statements of the Petitioner, along with others were recorded under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962. The petitioner claims that his statement given on 2nd February, 2019 was self-incriminating in nature, and given under force and coercion. As per the Arrest Memo, the Petitioner was arrested on 3rd February 2019 at 10:15 pm, whereas the petitioner claims that he along with co-accused persons had been illegally detained since the intervening night of 1st-2nd February, 2019.

5. Vide order dated 04.02.19, the bail applications of the petitioner along with co-accused persons were dismissed by Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Court, and they were remanded to judicial custody till 5th February, 2019. Their judicial custody was further extended to 19th February, 2019, vide order dated 05.02.19. The Petitioner retracted his statement recorded on 2nd February, 2019, vide letter dated 11.02.19.

6. The proposal for de