Common Order:

The petitioner in the above cases is A-1 among three accused in E.O.C.C. No.443 of 2004 (Old E.O.C.C. No.1164 of 1994), taken on file by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, E.O.II, Egmore, Chennai, for the offence punishable under Section-8(1) read with 56(1)(i) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (in short ‘FERA’).

2. The case of the prosecution is that, on 15.07.1993, the Enforcement Authorities conducted search at the residence of the petitioner/accused and foreign currencies to the value of crores of rupees came to be seized in the presence of two independent witnesses; that, on interrogation, the petitioner stated that his friend by name Haja Alauddin, who is residing at Singapore, sent gold and silver through some passengers from Singapore to Madras to the petitioner, who, in turn, on the instruction of the said Alauddin, sold the same to A-2 and A-3 and converted the sale proceeds into foreign currencies; that the currencies seized were of various denominations of different countries and a portion thereof was despatched to Alauddin and the balance retained by the petitioner at his residence; that though he confessed to the offence com