The main legal point established in the judgment is that the illegal diversion of duty-free imported gold to the domestic market and mis-declaration of exported jewelry are serious offenses that can impact the nation's economic interest. The court emphasized the need to balance economic interests with individual personal liberty and the importance of preventing tampering with witnesses during the investigation.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer: This Criminal Original Petition is filed under Section 439 of Cr.P.C., pleased to enlarge the petitioner on bail in R.R.No.6 of 2022 in F.No.DRI/CEZU/VIII/48/ENQ-01/INT-04/2022 on the file of respondent/ Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Chennai Zonal Unit, Chennai subject to such terms and conditions as this Hon’ble High Court.

This Criminal Original Petition is filed under Section 439 of Cr.P.C., pleased to enlarge the petitioner on bail in R.R.No.6 of 2022 in F.No.DRI/CEZU/VIII/48/ENQ-01/INT-04/2022 on the file of respondent/ Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Chennai Zonal Unit, Chennai subject to such terms and conditions as this Hon’ble High Court.

This Criminal Original Petition is filed under Section 439 of Cr.P.C., pleased to enlarge the petitioner on bail in R.R.No.6 of 2022 in F.No.DRI/CEZU/VIII/48/ENQ-01/INT-04/2022 on the file of respondent/ Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Chennai Zonal Unit, Chennai subject to such terms and conditions as this Hon’ble High Court.)

Common Order

1. These three petitioners have filed the bail. The 1st accused/Deepak G.Siroya is the petitioner in Crl.O.P.No.5923 of 2022, 2nd Accused/Santhosh Kothari is the petitioner in Crl.O.P.No.5926 of 2022 & 3rd Accused/Sunil Parmar is the petitioner in Crl.O.P.No.5933 of 2022 they all were arrested on 03.02.2022, for the alleged offences under Section 135(1)(b) and 135 (1)(ia) of Customs Act, 1962, in R.R.No.6 of 2022 on the file of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, EO-I, Egmore, Chennai.

2. The case of the prosecution in short is that, the Custom Duty free Gold/Silver/Platinum bars are available under the scheme for “Export against the Supply by Nominated Agencies,”for manufacturers and traders under Circular No.27/2016 dated 10.06.2016 issued by the Customs Department. As per this circular, the Nominating Agencies shall import gold/silver/platinum bars for supply to jewellery exporters and same shall be duty free on condition that the gold imported and distributed by nominating agency to the exporters should be exported as jewels without any deviation to the domestic market. The Nominating Agencies shall maintain accounts for the precious metal imported and shall discharge the liability of payment of duty in the event exporter not fulfilling his export obligation within the period prescribed under the Foreign Trade Policy.

3. Taking advantage of this circular, the petitioner/3rd Accused Shri.Santhosh Kothari, Proprietor of M/s.Shree Kalyan Jewellery had procured 218kgs in bullion from the Nominating Agency HDFC Bank with an undertaking that, he will export the jewellery made out of it. The money to procure the bullion by the 3rd accused was financed by Deepak G.Siroya (A1) who acted as master mind behind this illegality. After procuring bullion, fake jewellery made of copper/brass coated with gold covering were manufactured at Rajkot and Calcutta and exported by M/s.Sunil Jewellery a Proprietor concern of Sunil Parmar (A2). The cargo containing fake jewels were shipped under the Shipping Bill No.7862422 dated 31.01.2022 declaring that the said cargo contain 22 Carat plain gold jewellery. The consignment was stopped by the Customs Officials for weight discrepancies and they were detained and deposited in the Airports Authority of India for safe custody. The detailed examination of the Shipping Bill no.7862422 dated 31.01.2022 resulted in the recovery and seizure of 450 numbers of bangles which were found not to be 22 carat jewellery but to be gold coated copper bangles. The gold covered copper bangles were attempted to be smuggled out of India by mis-declaring it as 22 Carat plain gold jewellery. As per this shipping bill, 10.8 kgs of jewellery valued at Rs.4,56,39,360/- was to be exported. However, on verification of the goods and the document, it was found gross mis-declaration in terms of value. Hence, the goods were seized.

4. Similarly, Shri.Sunil Parmar/A2 had procured duty free gold bullion and had attempted t