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TMI Blog1957 (10) TMI 1X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ditional District Magistrate of Amritsar and for quashing the proceedings therein, and (2) for an order, direction or writ in the nature of habeas corpus for the production before this Court of the persons of the petitioners to be dealt with according to law. 2. The facts appearing from the records are shortly as follows : The petitioner, Leo Roy Frey, purchased a car No. C.D. 75 TT 6587 from an officer of the American Embassy in Paris. This car was sold by the petitioner Frey to the petitioner Thomas Dana, in May 1957. On transfer, the car was registered in the name of the petitioner Dana on May 18, 1957. Both the petitioners thereafter booked their passages through the American Express Company from Geneva to Bombay by ss. ASIA. The car w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... overed from the petitioner Dana and a pistol of .22 bore with 48 live cartridges of the same bore was recovered from the person of the petitioner Frey. Both the petitioners were put under arrest on the same day, namely, June 23, 1957. On June 30, 1957, the petitioners were interrogated and the car was thoroughly searched. As a result of such intensive search and minute inspection, a secret chamber above the petrol tank was discovered. On opening the secret chamber, Indian currency to the tune of Rs. 8,50,000 and U.S. dollars amounting to 10,000 were discovered in the concealed recess and seized by the police. On June 7, 1957, notice was issued to the petitioner Dana under Section 167(8) of the Sea Customs Act to show cause before the Collec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tioners and the said Moshe Baruk before the Additional District Magistrate, Amritsar, under S. 23 read with Section 8 of the Foreign Exchange Regulations Act, 1947, and Section 167(81) of the Sea Customs Act and Section 120B of the Indian Penal code, read with Section 23/23-B, Foreign Exchange Regulations Act and Section 167(81), Sea Customs Act, 1878. A case was also started against the petitioner Frey under the Indian Arms Act for being in possession of the pistol and the cartridges in contravention of the provisions of Section 20 of the Act. He was ordered to be let out on bail in the sum of Rs. 10,000 with one surety in the Arms Act case, which he furnished. The trial of the Arms Act case has concluded in the Court of the Additional Dis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ich is for the time being prohibited or restricted by or under Chapter IV of the Sea Customs Act, and consequently they cannot again be prosecuted and punished for the same offence. The argument is that the pending proceedings before the Additional District Magistrate offend against the protection given to the petitioners by Article 20(2) of the Constitution. That in imposing confiscation and penalties the Collector acts judicially has been held by this Court in its judgment pronounced on May 16, 1957, in F.N. Roy v. Collector of Customs, Petn. No. 438 of 1955. No question has been raised as to the maximum amount of penalty that can be imposed under Section 167(8) and we are not called upon to express any opinion on that point. But the fact ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s ingredients. They are, therefore, quite separate offences. This is also the view expressed by the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Rabinowich, (1915) 238 US 78. The offence of criminal conspiracy was not the subject matter of the proceedings before the Collector of Customs and therefore it cannot be said that the petitioners have already been prosecuted and punished for the "same offence". It is true that the Collector of Customs had used the words "punishment" and "conspiracy" but those words were used in order to bring out that each of the two petitioners was guilty of the offence under Section 167(8) of the Sea Customs Act. The petitioners were not and could never be charged with criminal conspiracy before the Collector ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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