TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1990 (3) TMI 224
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....s of an intelligence that a huge quantity of cotton yarns are being illicitly exported to Bangladesh through Jalangi border, a batch of Customs Officers including the Assistant Collector and Superintendents of Customs (Preventive), West Bengal, Calcutta undertook patrolling at Jalangi-Berhampore Road on 21-8-1986 and intercepted a car No. WMF-3003 with persons named "Sanjoy M. Badiyani" of M/s. M.G. Traders, a yarn merchant of 176, Jamunalal Bajaj Street, Calcutta- 7, Sri Sunil Dev, Broker of 5, Tarun Pally, Habra (Ashok Nagar), 24-Pgs. and Sri Sunil Kr. Halder of Jalangi and recovered forty-six copies of Bills issued in favour of different parties of Jalangi market for sale of cotton yarn and also Indian currency of Rs. 56,920.00. The said 46 bills were in the name of following traders. 1. K.B. Bastralaya : 3 Bills 2. Mondal Bastralaya : 1 Bill 3. Dhirendra Nath Nandy : 2 Bills 4. Molla Bastralaya : 3 Bills 5. Samsuddin Bastralaya : 9 Bills 6. Haque Bastralaya : 2 Bills 7. Anjali Bastralaya : 10 Bills 8. Halder Bastralaya : 2 Bills 9. Gautam Bastralaya : 1 Bill 10. Bandhab B....
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....mises was locked. When the Customs Officers contacted M/s. Bandhav Bastralaya which was situated at the premises owned by Naimuddin Sarkar, none from that Bastralaya came forward to unlock the said premises. The officers then broke open the said premises in the presence of witness and nobody came forward to claim the yarns seized from that premises. Therefore, the cotton yarn (11½ bales) were seized on a reasonable belief that they were being attempted to be exported to Bangladesh. Then the statement of Sri Sunil Dev, the broker, was also taken who implicated the appellants. The statements of Sri Sanjoy M. Badiyani of M/s. M.G. Traders and also of Sri Maganlal Badiyani, proprietor of the said firm, were taken under Sec. 108 of the Customs Act, 1962. Statement of Sri Abdul Mannan, proprietor of M/s. Bandhav Bastralaya was also taken during the course of investigation. Thereafter, show-cause notices were issued to the parties to show cause as to why the bales of cotton and the currency seized should not be confiscated and as to why penalty should not be imposed on them. The replies were submitted by the appellants and the adjudication proceedings resulted in the confiscation o....
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....nded that the statement of the co-accused can be relied on against the appellants since there are circumstances corroborating the evidence of Sri Sunil Chandra Dev in question. He relied en a decision reported in 1987 (27) 5.L.T. 74 (Tri.) = 1986 (9) ECR 574. It was also contended that there are several circumstances in this case to point out that the appellants were aware of the illegal export of cotton yarns to Bangladesh. It was, therefore, submitted that there is sufficient evidence to show that the amount seized from S.M. Badiyani is the amount which he had realised by way of such exports. He also contended that the appellants are liable to be penalized under Sec. 112(b) of the Customs Act, 1962 and therefore, he justified the orders passed by the learned Collector. 8. In view of the rival contentions the points that arise for our determination are as follows. (i) Whether there are any grounds to confiscate the Indian Currency of Rs. 56,920.00 seized from the possession of Sri Sanjoy M. Badiyani; (ii) Whether the imposition of penalty of Rs. 5,000.00 on each of the appellants is in accordance with law; (iii) Whether the confiscation of the cotton yarn is in accordance with....
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....ri Sanjoy M. Badiyani and Maganlal Badiyani from the statements of different parties and facts and circumstances, it clearly comes out that they used to supply cotton yarn to different traders in Jalangi with the full knowledge that the same would be smuggled out to Bangladesh and the sale proceeds of some yarn already smuggled to Bangladesh amounting to Rs. 56,920 was seized from the possession of Sri Sanjoy M. Badiyani. Neither Sri Sanjoy M. Badiyani nor Sri Maganlal Badiyani has been able to prove that the said Indian currency under seizure represented proceeds of any licit documentary trade because none of the parties excepting Bandhav Bastralaya stated to have purchased cotton yarn from Sri Sanjoy M. Badiyani or Maganlal Badiyani and it is also on record that the challans on receipt of the goods taken by M/s. Roy Transport Co. did not have any receipt from the traders of Jalangi to whom cotton yarn was said to have been sold. Further, the broker, Sri Sunil Ch. Dev stated on the day of seizure of the money which was collected by and recovered from Sri Sanjoy M. Badiyani was nothing but the sale proceeds on the cotton yarn supplied by him to the Jalangi Traders which he knew to ....