* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

% Judgment Reserved on: 11.11.2025

Judgment delivered on: 23.12.2025

Judgment uploaded on: As per Digital Signature~

+ W.P.(C) 12433/2025 & CM APPL. 50663/2025

RAJESH GUPTA & ORS. .....Petitioners

versus

ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF INCOME

TAX CENTRAL CIRCLE 31 DELHI & ORS. .....Respondents

Advocates who appeared in this case

For the Petitioners : Ms Kavita Jha, Sr Advocate with Mr

Vaibhav Kulkarni and Mr Himanshu

Aggarwal, Advocates

For the Respondents : Mr. Indruj Singh Rai, SSC Mr. Sanjeev

Menon, Mr. Rahul Singh, JSCs and Mr.

Gaurav Kumar, Advocate.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE V. KAMESWAR RAO

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VINOD KUMAR

JUDGMENT

V. KAMESWAR RAO, J.

1. This petition has been filed with the following prayers:

“a. quashing the impugned order dated 18.07.2025 passed by

Respondent No. 1; and

b. releasing the Gold (Coins) and jewellery seized in terms of Annexures B-1, B-2, J-1, J-2, J-3 & J-4 [Annexure C to the

present writ petition]; and/or”

2. This present petition is a second round of litigation before this Court. The petitioners no. 1 and 2 are husband and wife and the petitioners no. 3 and 4 are their children. The brief factual background surrounding the case is that the petitioners herein, were subjected to a search and seizure operation at their residence which was conducted by the respondent/Revenue from 09.10.2024 to 11.10.2024, based on a search warrant authorized by the respondent no.3 under Section 132 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act).

3. During the search, the following gold and jewellery were seized by the Revenue:

i. Gold (coins etc.) - 104 Grams;

ii. Jewellery - 4,808 Grams approx. being the value/weight based on the converted gold weight while the actual net weight is

2,519 Grams;

iii. The total value of the jewellery found was Rs. 5,39,76,316/- out of which jewellery amounting to Rs.1,51,16,209/- was released and the seizure was of Rs. 3,88,60,107/-.

4. Ms. Kavita Jha, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the petitioners herein, stated that the search and seizure were illegal. As per her, the petitioner no.1, for and on behalf of himself and the rest of the petitioners addressed a letter to the department dated 25.11.2024 submitting the documents and pointing out that all the seized gold/jewellery was disclosed by the petitioners in their respective Income Tax Returns (ITR) and Wealth Tax Returns (WTR). She stated that as per the second proviso to Section 132 B(1)(i) of the Act, it was incumbent upon the respondents to release the seized gold/jewellery within 120 days from the date of search. Due to inaction on the part of the respondents, the petitioners filed another letter on 23.01.2025, reiterating their request for the release of the gold/jewellery along with reconciliation, demonstrating that each item mentioned in the Panchnama was duly disclosed by the petitioners in their returns.

5. She stated that as per the statute, when the person concerned makes an application within 30 days from the end of the month in which assets were seized and furnishes explanation to the satisfaction of the Assessing Officer, (AO) subject to the existing liability, the assets may be released. It is her submission that since the last date of search was 11.10.2024, and the application was filed by the petitioners under Section 132B on 25.11.2024, the requirement of the first proviso to Section 132B was met. She stated that even after the lapse of 120 days, no action was taken by the respondents and the documents placed on record by the petitioners were completely ignored. Thereafter, aggrieved by the same, the petitioners filed a writ petition before this Court being WP(C) No. 2938/2025, on 07.03.2025. She drew our attention to the order passed therein dated 07.07.25 which reads as under:

“3. The learned counsel appearing for the Revenue now submits that the Petitioners’ Application for release of the jewellery in question would be decided within a period of 1 (one) week from date. The Respondents are bound do