IMPORTANT POINT
The procedure for attachment or seizure of property relating to offences under the P.C. Act is governed by the provisions of the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance, 1944 and not Section 102 Cr.P.C.

JUDGMENT

1. Heard Mr. W. Darakishwor, learned senior panel counsel appearing for the petitioner and Mr. K. Pradip, learned counsel appearing for the respondents. The present Criminal Revision Petitions have been filed under Section 397 read with Section 401 of the Cr.P.C. with the prayer for quashing and setting aside the impugned Zima order dated 20.09.2021 passed by the learned Special Judge, Imphal West in Cril. Misc. (Z) Case No. 7 of 2021 and Cril. Misc. (Z) Case No. 8 of 2021. As the present two revision petitions are connected and arose out of the FIR No. R.C. 0212020A0006 P.S./C.B.I (ACB), Imphal u/s 13(2) r/w 13 (1) (b) P.C. Act, 1988 (as amended), the same is being disposed of by this common order.

2. The facts of the present cases in a nutshell are that the petitioner (CBI) registered a case under FIR No. R.C. 0212020A0006 P.S./CBI (ACB), Imphal u/s 13(2) r/w 13 (1) (b) of the P.C. Act, 1988, (as amended) on 14.11.2020 against one Shri Naorem Budhichandra Singh, the respondent in Cril. Rev. Petn. No. 20 of 2021, for alleged possession of properties disproportionate to his known source of income. Thereafter, on 16.12.2020, the petitioner (CBI) conducted a search operation at the house of the respondents and seized a large number of documents and other properties including hard cash and gold ornaments and kept the seized properties in the custody of the CBI.

3. The respondents, who are husband and wife, filed two separate applications registered as Cril. Misc. (Z) Case No. 7 of 2021 and Cril. Misc. (Z) Case No. 8 of 2021 before the Court of Special Judge, Imphal West, under Section 457 Cr.P.C. with a prayer for granting interim custody of the seized properties under Zima.

4. The Special Judge, Imphal West allowed both the aforesaid Zima applications by an order dated 20.09.2021, by directing the CBI to handover to the respondents some of the seized properties for interim custody on Zima under certain conditions as mentioned in the aforesaid orders. Feeling aggrieved, the petitioner filed the present two revision petitions assailing the aforesaid orders dated 20.09.2021 passed by the Special Judge, Imphal West in Cril. Misc. (Z) Case No. 7 of 2021 and Cril. Misc. (Z) Case No. 8 of 2021 and praying for quashing and setting aside the impugned orders.

5. At the outset, Mr. K. Pradip, learned counsel appearing for the respondents raised a preliminary issue regarding the maintainability of the present revision petition on the ground that the CBI seized or confiscated the documents and articles including money and gold ornaments from one of the respondents illegally without following due process of law provided under Section 18 A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as P.C. Act for short) read with Section 3 and 4 of the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance 1944 (hereinafter referred to as Cril. Ordinance for short) and as such, the CBI has no locus standi to object to the Zima application filed by the respondents or to file the present revision petition challenging the impugned Zima order passed by the learned Special Judge (P.C. Act), Imphal East. The counsel for the respondents draw the attention of this Court to the provisions of Section 18 A of the P.C. Act and Section 3, 4 and Para 4-A of the Schedule to the Cril. Ordinance which reads as under:

Section 18 A of the P.C. Act 1988:

'18A. Provision of Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance, 1944 to apply to attachment under this Act.-(1) Save as otherwise provided under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (15 of 2003), the provisions of the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance, 1944 (Ord. 38 of 1944) shall, as far as many be, apply to the attachment, administration of attached property and execution of order of attachment or confiscation of money or property procured by means of an offence under this Act.

(2) For the purpose of this Act, the provisions of the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance, 1944 (Ord. 38 of 1944) shall have effect, subject to the modifi