The application is filed under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (‘Code’, for the sake of brevity), for an order of pre-arrest bail.

2.The petitioner apprehends arrest in O.R. No.DRI/CoZU/CHN/01/ENQ-01/2024 of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Zonal Unit, Cochin.

3.The concise case of the respondent is that: the officers of the respondent learnt that a gang was indulging in smuggling of gold from Abu Dhabi to India by using carrier passengers by way of rectum concealment of gold in compound form. The petitioner is suspected to be the mastermind and main sponsor of the gang. Consequently, the petitioner was served with multiple summons under Sec.108 of the Customs Act, 1962 . But, the petitioner is not co-operating with the investigation and is absconding from his known addresses of business and residence. Acting on an intelligence information, on 8.2.2024, the officers of the respondent intercepted the fifth accused who arrived from Abu Dhabi and conducted a body search on him. 910 grams of gold in compound form was recovered from him. Based on his deposition, the first accused, who had gone to the airport to collect the smuggled gold from the fifth a