9911796707
TMI Blog2023 (9) TMI 198X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... biscuits seized by it under Section 110 of the Customs Act 1962 [The Act]. The Hon'ble High Court vide a detailed order dated 27.08. 2015 dismissed the writ petition filed by the appellants, directing them to file statutory appeal in the matter and seek remedies as provided for under Chapter XV of the Customs Act, 1962. Against the impugned order of the Hon'ble High Court the appellants filed a SLP before the Apex Court which too got dismissed vide Order dated 23.11.2015. Alongside, the Show Cause Notice dated 27.08.2015, got to be adjudicated by the Commissioner of Customs vide Order-in-Original dated 18 April, 2016, confiscating absolutely the seized gold, besides imposing personal penalties on the appellants amongst others. Appeal filed against the impugned order before the Tribunal was decided vide Order dated 29.11.2017 [2018(361) ELT Tri-Kolkata]. An ROM, filed by the appellants against the said order of the Tribunal was dismissed vide orders dated 19.3.2018. The appellant had also approached the Hon'ble High Court of Meghalaya in appeal against the order of the Tribunal dated 29.11.2017 pleading therein, that certain factual points and legal issues raised before the Tribunal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... RK Samsung Singh and RK Templer Singh also reiterated and reconfirmed the assertions made by T. Santibala Devi and RK Rojita Devi. All the four accused were arrested by the RPF on 26.8.2014 At Dimapur and were later produced before the Hon'ble Special Railway Magistrate, Tinsukia on 27.8.2014. As per the directions of the Hon'ble Magistrate, the case was handed over to the Customs Department for further investigations. The four accused arrested by the RPF alongwith 26 gold biscuits said to be of foreign origin, were therefore handed over to the Customs Authorities at Tinsukia on 27.8.2014. 3. It was observed by the Customs Officers that the seized gold biscuits were of rectangular shape having no markings. Photo copies of the three tax invoices recovered from the said persons by the RPF in support of the seized gold biscuits pertaining to the year 2013-2014, issued by M/s Magna Projects Private Ltd. Kolkata, in favour of Rajkumar Angangbi Singh, of Imphal, against sale of one Kg gold, were also made over to the authorities. The arrested persons confirmed that in addition to the three tax invoices, they did not have any other document in support of the recovered 26 piec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 60-13-14 dated 01.06.2013, 38757/13-14, dated 11.06.2013. and 47709/13-14 dated 19.07.2013, he confirmed that the said three photo copy of the invoices bore the stamp of their company and signature of their employee Anand Agarwal, that the three tax invoices were issued at the request of RK Angangbi Singh, who had told them that he had lost the original copy of the invoice issued at the time of delivery of the goods. He confirmed that the said three tax invoices were duplicate copies, the original of which had been recovered by the DRI Officers and that the gold mentioned in the impugned three tax invoices was delivered on the date of issue of the invoice either to RK Angangbi Singh in person or his wife at their office in Kolkata. He stated that vide Invoice No. 37260/13-14 dated 01.06.2013, they had sold two cut pieces of two 1 kg gold bar of MMTC Pamp bearing Serial No. 048606 and 048607, that, vide tax invoice No. 38757/1314 dated 11.06.2013 they had sold three 1 kg bars bearing Serial No. SO B37928, SO B37929, SO B37930 and two 100 gm. cut pieces of Serial number SO B37927 of Rand Refinery, that, vide tax invoice No. 47709/13-14 dated 19.07.2013 they had sold 172.350 gm cut pi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ) Sonia. Regarding sale and purchase of the goods, he stated that he did not maintain proper records due to lack of staff, that, the seized 26 pieces gold biscuits belonged to him which he had bought from M/s Magna Projects Pvt. Ltd. as legally approved gold. He also added that there was no markings on the gold biscuits since he had done the conversion for these 26 pieces of gold biscuits into different sizes and weight as per his requirements. 7.1 R.K Angangbi Singh, in his subsequent statement dated 11.09.2014 while reconfirming and reiterating the information tendered earlier added that he had purchased the said gold biscuits from M/s Magna Projects Pvt. Ltd., a bullion merchant of Kolkata and that he made the payment by cheque and RTGS only, that, he had given them three purchase invoice bills No. 37260/13-14, 38757/13-14 and 47709/13-14 pertaining to M/s Magna Projects, Kolkata to justify that the seized gold was not smuggled and that these documents were genuine supporting documents. About the gold purchased under cover of the five invoices referred to in earlier para, he said that, most of the gold purchased was in biscuit form with some markings i.e. (i) Invoic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of seized gold bars could be similar to the smuggled gold but he did not know what could be the weight of smuggled gold bars. On being asked why he sent the carriers through road while he himself was going by flight to collect the same he stated that they were unemployed so he sent them by road so that he could provide monetary help to them and if he had sent them by flight the expenditure would have been much higher and he could not provide monetary benefit to them. Finally, he mentioned that he had not insured the said twenty six pieces of gold biscuits. 8. R.K. Radhika Devi, in her statement tendered on 30.09.2014, interalia stated that her actual name is R.K Sonia Devi and her shop is called Radhika Jewellery. That, as per directions of the appellant R.K. Angangbi Singh, R.K Ranjana Devi had given the said gold biscuits to Rojita and Shantibala. That she had concealed the said gold and also modified the garments. That, R.K Ranjana Devi had delivered the modified garment to Rojita and Shantibala as per directions of R.K. Angangbi Singh for safe journey. That, the 1 kg bar and cut pieces of gold were purchased from Kolkata. That, in the 1 kg bar there wa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 04. It was however ascertained that M/s Radhika Jewellery, Sagolband Bijoy Govinda, Imphal was registered as a Proprietorship of Rajkumari Ongbi Sonia Devi, W/o R.K. Angangbi Singh, Sagolband, Bijoy Govinda Imphal West, and the effective date of registration was 10.12.2014. Similarly the Executive officer, Imphal Municipal Council had reported that M/s. Radhika Jewellery, Sagolband, Imphal had been issued the shop licence and registration licence bearing No. 6192 only on 27.08.2014. 11. In the course of further follow-up investigations, Shri Anand Aggarwal, Accountant of M/s Magna Projects Pvt. Ltd., 163 Rabindra Sarania, Kolkata-7 in his statement dated on 15.05.2015, stated inter alia that he had been looking after the entire financial and account aspects of M/s Magna Projects Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata -7. That, he had given copies of the old invoices freshly printed out from their system on their company's stationery and had signed and put the company's seal for their authenticity, affixed with the company's round seal. That, apart from invoice they did not issue any challan, delivery note etc. That, for issuance of duplicate invoices, they did not maintain any separ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... GS of the customers. That, they ignore slight variation in the indicated name in the PAN records during online verification. That, for requests for raising invoice in the name of third party, they entertain such request only after getting a proper authorization on letter head from the customer to whom the bill is required to be raised. That, in the above cases they received letters from the party (who made the payment) advising them to raise invoice in the name of a third party. That, the request was received from the first party on the letter head of the third party and accordingly gold was also delivered to the third party. That, these changes had not been shown in their invoices since there was no such scope in the invoices generated through "Taly ERP 9" software. That, as per records, under cover of invoice No. 17320/13-14 dated 29.04/2013, gold valued Rs. 3,00,000/- was sold to M/s Milan Kanak Saaj (Jewellers), Baruipur, Station Road, Kalitala Railgate, 24 PGS (S), Kolkata-700144. That, in the other copy of invoice No. 17320/13-14 dated 29.04.2013 showing sale of gold 8,000 grams of gold, valued at Rs. 2.26 crore, as was produced before him by the Investigation officers, was s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the two sides at considerable length in view the significant factual contents of the narrations. The Learned advocate for the appellants essentially pleaded that they were large scale purchasers/traders of gold that they had done no wrong and the gold seized from the possession of the accused was licitly procured and needs to be released in their favour. 13. From the material evidence discussed in foregoing paras and the narrations the following emerges and can be summarised; that : i. On 25th August 2014, the Railway Protection Force personnel, at Dimapur Railway Station recovered 26 pieces of gold biscuits from the possession of T. Santibala Devi and R.K. Rojita Devi kept concealed in their waistline of Jeans pant/petticoat, collectively weighing 4334 gms appropriately ii. The gold biscuits seized were in the form of rough biscuits without any markings/inscriptions or any number and were not supported by proper documents. Each gold biscuit weighing 166.52 gm to 167.05 gm were alleged by the investigators to be similar to the gold biscuits smuggled from Myanmar and were not in conformity to the locally available gold biscuits, weighing generally in bet ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a, in the name of Rajkumar Angangbi Singh to justify transportation of the said twenty six pieces gold biscuits. (He had earlier stated that purchase invoices No. 37260/13-14 dated 1.6.2013, 38757/13-14 dated 11.06.2013 and 47709/13-14 dated 19.07.2013, were handed over to the carriers without any ulterior intentions as they commenced the journey hurriedly and that the actual documents were these documents which he had submitted afterwards i.e. the aforesaid five purchase invoices.) It is thus evident that the documents produced by the persons from whose possession the said goods were recovered also admittedly by the appellant do not relate to the seized gold biscuits and the documents produced later were submitted as an act of afterthought. x. The five purchase invoices produced by R.K. Angangbi Singh on 9.9.2014, to justify transportation of the twenty six pieces gold biscuits were all purportedly issued by M/s Magna Projects Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata, in the name of R.K Angangbi Singh. Investigations revealed that there was no reference of purchase invoice No.17320/13-14 dated 29.4.2013 in the ledger of M/s Magna Projects Pvt. Ltd., Kolkata. Shri Anand k ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rship of the seized 26 pieces of gold biscuits on three different occasions as indicated in the following table : Invoice recovered at the time of seizure Invoices submitted on 09.09.2014 Customs Authorities Invoices in transit challan produced in Writ petition 37260/13-14 dated 01.06.2013, issued in favour of Raj Kumar Angangbi Singh 17320/13-14 dated 29.04.2013, issued in favour of Raj Kumar Angangbi Singh 02082/14-15 dated 28.07.2014 issued in favour of R.K Angangbi Singh 38757/13-14 dated 11.06.2013, issued in favour of Raj Kumar Angangbi Singh 22281/13-14 dated 06.05.2013, issued in favour of Raj Kumar Angangbi Singh 02083/14-15 dated 28.07.2014 issued in favour of R.K Rajana Devi 47709/13-14 dated 19.07.2013, issued in favour of Raj Kumar Angangbi Singh 40791/13-14 dated 21.06.2013, issued in favour of Raj Kumar Angangbi Singh 02084/14-15 dated 28.07.2014 issued in favour of R.K Sonia 46827/13-14 dated 10.07.2013, issued in favour of Raj Kumar Angangbi Singh 18595/10-11 dated 07.01.2011, issued in favour of Raj Kumar Angangbi Singh There is nothing to establish on record that even at least one of the sets of invoices tend ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hoodwink the authorities and actually do not even the least bit can be said to satisfactorily discharge their onus in law. xviii. The fact of the matter remains that no gold sales were made by Magna Projects Pvt. Ltd. in 2014-15 to R.K Angangbi Singh or any of his associates. Thus despite this seizure of 4.3 kgs (approx.) of gold, five months down the line into the financial year, in the wake of completely non-satisfactory discharge of the burden, by repeated resubmissions of different invoices (and that too not having been found to be genuine one way or the other) is just not legally tenable. xix. The experts have pointed out that the seized gold was of a high purity and by weight approximates the gold bars commonly available and seized by the authorities at Indo-Mayanmar Border, rather than being akin to locally sourced gold bars in terms of weight and purity. xx. It has come out during the investigations that at least two of the appellants herein namely RK Templer Singh and the wife of R.K Angangbi Singh - RK Radhika Devi, had earlier been also investigated in an offence relating to smuggling of gold. The needle ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , fictitious, manipulated and hence ab initio void. Invoices recovered/produced at the time of seizure were initially claimed as cover documents for the acquisition of the seized gold. R.K Angangbi Singh, the claimant of the said gold himself had negated these invoices and he produced different set of invoices on 09.09.2014 claiming them as the actual set of documents for the said gold under seizure. Again, R.K Angangbi Singh submitted a different set of invoices/transit challans as a legit cover of documents for the seized gold while filing Writ Petition before the Hon'ble High Court of Meghalaya, Shillong. It is thus apparent that R.K Angangbi Singh had produced/submitted different sets of invoices in a deliberate attempt to mislead the investigations and as an act of afterthought as well as to justify transportation of smuggled goods and in an attempt to discharge the onus cast upon the under Section 123 of the Act. 15. The exercise at repeated self-contradiction, thus generates no legal justification in support of the appellant and is sufficient enough to demonstrate that their arguments are no more than fancy fairy tale fo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... arison of the transit challan with the recovered invoices, indicates no akinness Impugned Transit Challan records Invoices produced at the time of seizure 02082/14-15 dated 28.07.2014 Issued in favour of R.K Angangbi Singh 37260/13-14 dated 01.06.2013 issued in favour of Rajkumar Angangbi Singh 02083/14-15 dated 28.07.2014 issued in favour of R.K Ranjana Devi 38757/13-14 dated 11.06.2013 issued in favour of Rajkumar Angangbi Singh 02084/14-15 dated 28.07.2014 issued in favour of R.K Sonia 47709/13-14 dated 19.07.2013 issued in favour of Rajkumar Angangbi Singh Note the wide variation in dates and the names of the persons in the two columns. It is therefore, evident that the description of the purchase invoices in transit challan produced before the Hon'ble High Court, Shillong did not tally with the purchase invoices recovered at the time of seizure. Since, the transit challan records did not match with the recovered purchase invoices it is clear that the transit challan too were fabricated, and presented subsequently, like various other documents and submitted as an afterthought perhaps to even mislead the judiciary; besides being a failed att ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
