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2021 (2) TMI 409 - HC - CustomsGrant of Bail - Smuggling - Gold Bars - reason to believe present or not - HELD THAT:- As per Section 104(1) of the Customs Act, if a person has committed offence, inter alia, under Section 135 of the said Act, he may be arrested. Coming to Section 135(1)(b)(i) (A) of the Act, if the market price of the goods exceeds ₹ 1 crore, the same is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 7 (seven) years and with fine and as such, such an offence is non-bailable - Mr. Purkayastha has submitted that the value of the gold so seized is less than ₹ 1 crore as per the value of gold found and collected from the website. However, it has been found from the complaint/bail objection placed before this Court by the DRI that the gold was weighed by the registered goldsmith and the value of the seized gold was Rs. ₹ 1,01,94,450/-. In the absence of any material to show that ascertainment of the value of the seized gold is not legally valid/correct, there is no reason to disbelieve the value ascertained by the registered goldsmith. Accordingly, the offence is covered by Section 135(1)(b)(i)(A) of the Customs Act. In the instant case, so far the materials collected, it was a smuggled gold and no duty was paid for that - Whatever it may be, from the materials on record and on hearing the rival submissions made by the respective learned counsel for the parties, this Court is of the view that this is not a fit case to grant bail to the petitioner, at this stage, as there are materials collected during the investigation of the case that the petitioner had, in his possession four gold bars weighing 1995.00 grams and valued at Rs. ₹ 1,01,94,450/- covering the case by the provision of Section 135(1)(b)(i)(A) of the Customs Act. Bail application dismissed.
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