# VEERA IBRAHIM v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

- **Citation:** [1976] 3 S.C.R. 672
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1976-03-18
- **Case number:** Criminal Appeal No. 234 of 1971
- **Bench:** R. S. Sarkaria, N. L. Untwalia
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/veera-ibrahim-v-state-of-maharashtra-6831
- **Pages:** 8

## Headnote

Constitution of India, Art. 20(3), conditions for applicabilitv of, whether
enquiry is 'accusation' lvithin the meaning of-Evidence Act, S. 24, when
attracted-What amounts to 'confession' under S. 24.
A truck was seized with its contents of contraband goods for foreign make~
on which no duty had been paid.
The appellant who was in charge of the
goods, was arrested while escaping from the truck and Rs. 2000/- were seized
from him. His statement was recorded under S. 108, Customs Act. 1962.
The appellant and the driver of the truck. were convicted by the Trial Court.
under Ss. 135 (a) and 135 (b) of the Customs Act, 1962, and S. 5 of the
Imports & Exports (Control) Act, 1947. The High Court upheld their con·
viction under S. 135 (a) of the Customs Act, and acquitted ihem of the other
charges.
In appeal by leave granted under Art. 134(1) (c) of the Constitution, the
appellant contended before this Court that his statement taken under S. 108,
Customs Act, could not be used against him; firstly, as it was hit by Art.
20(3) of the Constitution on account of .its havin2 been taken while he was
already an 'accused' under S. 124, Bombay Police Act, and secondly. it was
barred under S. 24, Evidence Act, the same being a confession obtained under
compulsion of law.
It was also contended that in the absence of the requisite notification under S. 123(2), Customs Act, the statutory presumption under
S. 123 could not be invoked by the prosecution, and without the same. the
facts of the case were insufficient to establish an offence a2ainst the appellant
under S. 135, Customs Act.
Dismissing the appeal, the Court,
HELD : ( 1 ) To claim the benefit of the guarantee against testimonial compulsion embodied in clause (3) of Art. 20, it must be shown, firstly, that the
person wn.o made the statement was 'accused of any offence', secondly, that
he made this statement under compulsion.
Only a person against whom a
formal accusation relating to the commission of an offence bas been levelled
would fall within its ambit. [674C-D]
R. C. Mehta v. State of West Bengal, [1969] 2 S.C.R. 461, applied.
(2) To attract the prohibition enacted in S. 24 Evidence Act, these facts
must be established.
(i) that the statement in question is a confession;
(ii) that such confession has been made by an accused person;
(iii)
(iv)
that it has been made to a person in authority;
that the confession has been obtained by reason of any inducement
threat or promise proceeding from a person in authority.
(v) Such inducement, threat or promise, must have reference to the
charge against the accused person;
(vi) The inducement, threat or promise must in the opinion of the Court
be sufficient to give the accused person ground, which would appear
to him reasonable, for supposing that by making it he would gain
any advantage or avoid any evil of temporal nature in reference to
the proceedings against him.
[676F-H, 677 A]
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VEERA IBRAHIM v. MAHARASHTRA (Sarkaria, J.)
673
(3) A ~tat~rucnt in order to amount to a 'confession'. must either admit in
A
terms the offence, or at any rate substantially all the facts which constitute
the offence.
An admission of an incriminating fact. howwover grave, is not
I
by itself a confessiop_.
A statement which contains an exculpatory assertion of
some fact, which if true, would negative the offence alleged, cannot amount
•
to a 'confession'. [677 A-Cl
•
Pekala Naraya11a v. R. 66 I. A. 66 Palvinder Kaur v. State of Punjab [19531
S.C.R. 94, Om Prakash v. State, A.I.R. 1960 S.C. 409, referred to.
B

## Text

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672
VEERA IBRAHIM
v.
STATE OF MAHARASHTRA
March 18, 1976
[R. S. SARKARIA AND N. L. UNTWALIA, JJ.]
Constitution of India, Art. 20(3), conditions for applicabilitv of, whether
enquiry is 'accusation' lvithin the meaning of-Evidence Act, S. 24, when
attracted-What amounts to 'confession' under S. 24.
A truck was seized with its contents of contraband goods for foreign make~
on which no duty had been paid.
The appellant who was in charge of the
goods, was arrested while escaping from the truck and Rs. 2000/- were seized
from him. His statement was recorded under S. 108, Customs Act. 1962.
The appellant and the driver of the truck. were convicted by the Trial Court.
under Ss. 135 (a) and 135 (b) of the Customs Act, 1962, and S. 5 of the
Imports & Exports (Control) Act, 1947. The High Court upheld their con·
viction under S. 135 (a) of the Customs Act, and acquitted ihem of the other
charges.
In appeal by leave granted under Art. 134(1) (c) of the Constitution, the
appellant contended before this Court that his statement taken under S. 108,
Customs Act, could not be used against him; firstly, as it was hit by Art.
20(3) of the Constitution on account of .its havin2 been taken while he was
already an 'accused' under S. 124, Bombay Police Act, and secondly. it was
barred under S. 24, Evidence Act, the same being a confession obtained under
compulsion of law.
It was also contended that in the absence of the requisite notification under S. 123(2), Customs Act, the statutory presumption under
S. 123 could not be invoked by the prosecution, and without the same. the
facts of the case were insufficient to establish an offence a2ainst the appellant
under S. 135, Customs Act.
Dismissing the appeal, the Court,
HELD : ( 1 ) To claim the benefit of the guarantee against testimonial compulsion embodied in clause (3) of Art. 20, it must be shown, firstly, that the
person wn.o made the statement was 'accused of any offence', secondly, that
he made this statement under compulsion.
Only a person against whom a
formal accusation relating to the commission of an offence bas been levelled
would fall within its ambit. [674C-D]
R. C. Mehta v. State of West Bengal, [1969] 2 S.C.R. 461, applied.
(2) To attract the prohibition enacted in S. 24 Evidence Act, these facts
must be established.
(i) that the statement in question is a confession;
(ii) that such confession has been made by an accused person;
(iii)
(iv)
that it has been made to a person in authority;
that the confession has been obtained by reason of any inducement
threat or promise proceeding from a person in authority.
(v) Such inducement, threat or promise, must have reference to the
charge against the accused person;
(vi) The inducement, threat or promise must in the opinion of the Court
be sufficient to give the accused person ground, which would appear
to him reasonable, for supposing that by making it he would gain
any advantage or avoid any evil of temporal nature in reference to
the proceedings against him.
[676F-H, 677 A]
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VEERA IBRAHIM v. MAHARASHTRA (Sarkaria, J.)
673
(3) A ~tat~rucnt in order to amount to a 'confession'. must either admit in
A
terms the offence, or at any rate substantially all the facts which constitute
the offence.
An admission of an incriminating fact. howwover grave, is not
I
by itself a confessiop_.
A statement which contains an exculpatory assertion of
some fact, which if true, would negative the offence alleged, cannot amount
•
to a 'confession'. [677 A-Cl
•
Pekala Naraya11a v. R. 66 I. A. 66 Palvinder Kaur v. State of Punjab [19531
S.C.R. 94, Om Prakash v. State, A.I.R. 1960 S.C. 409, referred to.
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CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No. 234
of 1971.
From the Judgment and Order dated the 26-3-71 of the Bombay
High Court at Bombay in Criminal Appeal No. 1434 of 1970.
K. R. Chaudhury and K. Rajendra Chaudhury for the Appellant.
H. R. Khanna and M. N. Shroff for Respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
SARKARIA, J.-Veera Ibrahim, appellant was accused No. 2 in the
complaint filed by Assistant Collector of Customs, Preventive Department, Bombay before the Chief Presidency Magistrate for his prosecution aJong with one Abdul Umrao Rauf, accused No. 1, in respect
of offences under ss. 135(a) and 135(b) of the Customs Act, 1962
and s. 5 of the Imports and Exports (Control) Act 194 7.
The trial
Magistrate convicted both the accused on all the three charges and
sentenced them to two years rigorous imprisonment on each count
with a direction that the sentences wouJd run concurrently.
Against
that judgment, two separate appeaJs were filed by the convicts in the
Bombay High Court which acquitted both the accused of the offences
under s. 5 of the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, 1947 and under
s. 135 (b) of the Customs Act, but maintained their conviction ou
the charge under s. 135(a) of that Act reducing the sentence to one
year's rigorous imprisonment.
The High Court, however, granted
a certificate under Article 134(1) (c) of the Constitution, on the basis
of which, this appeal has been filed.
The main question with reference to which the certificate
was
granted by the High Court, was : whether s. 108 of the Customs Act,
1962 is ultra vires the provisions of cl. (3) of Article 20 of
the
Constitution ? But Mr. Chaudhry, appearing for the appdlant, does
not press this question now before us.
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The first contention canvassed by the Counsel is that on the facts
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and circumstances of the case, the appellant's
statement recorded
under s. 108 of the Customs Act 1962, on the foot of which
the
appellant has been convicted, was hit by clause (3) of Article
20
because at the time of making that statement, the appellant was "accused of any offence" under s. 1_24 of the Bombay Police Act, and the
statement was obtained under compuJsion of law.
Stress has been
placed on the fact that the appellant was, in fact, arrested by the
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police on a charge under s. 124 of the Bombay Police Act and the
goods were seized under a Panchnama, prepared by them in the course
of investigation.
In this connection, reference has been made
to
674
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1976] 3 S.C.R.
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M. P. Sharma and Ors. v. Satish Chandra, District Magistrate, Delhi
and Ors. (1)
On the other hand, Mr. H. R. Khanna, appearing for the respon-
. dent submits that the words "accused of any offence" occurring in
Art. 20 ( 3) take in only that person against whom a formal accusation
of an offence has been levelled.
Two other conditions for the applicability of this Clause, according to the Counsel, are : (a) that the
testimony in question had been obtained under compulsion, and (b)
it relates to the offence of which he stands formally accused.
These
conditions, it is maintained, were not fulfilled in the present case.
Clause ( 3) of Article 20 provides :
"No person accused of any offence shall be compclkd
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to be a witness against himself".
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From an analysis of this clause, it is apparent that in order to
claim the benefit of the guarantee against testimonial compulsion embodied in this clause, it must be shown, firstly, that the person who
made the statement was "accused of any offence" secondly, that he
made this statement under compulsion.
The phrase "accused of any
offence" has been the subject of several decisions of this Court so
that by now it is well settled that only a person against whom a formal accusation relating to the commission of an offence has
been
levelled which in the normal course may result in his prosecution,
would fall within its ambit.
In R. C. Mehta v. State of West Bengal,(') this point came up for
consideration in the context of a statement recorded by an officer of
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Customs in an enquiry under s. 171-A of the Sea Customs Act. One
of the contentions raised was, that a person against whom such an
enquiry is made is a 'person accused of an offence', and on that account, he cannot be compelled to be a witness against himself and the
statement obtained or evidence collected under the aforesaid provision
by the Officer of Customs is inadmissible. This contention was repelled. Shah J., speaking for the Court, made these apposite observaF
tions :
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"Under s. 171-A of the Sea Customs Act, a Customs
Officer has power in an enquiry in connection
with the
smuggling of goods to sμmmon any person whose attendance he considers necessary, to give evidence or to produce a document or any other thing, and by cl. ( 3) the
person so summoned is bound to state the truth upon any
subject respecting which he is examined or makes statements and to produce such documents and other things as
may be required.
The expression "any person" includes
a person who is suspected or believed to be concerned in the
smuggling of goods.
But a person arrested by a Customs
Officer because he is found in possession of smuggled goods
or on suspicion that he is concerned in smuggling is not when
called upon by the Customs Officer to make a statement
or to produce a document or thing, a person accused of an
(I) [1954] S.C.R.1077.
(2) [1969J 2 S.C.R. 461.
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VEERA IBRAHIM v. MAHARASHTRA (Sarkaria, ].)
675
offence within the ·meaning of Art. 20(3) of the ConstituA
tion.
The steps taken by the Customs Officer are for the
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purpose of holding an enquiry under the Sea Customs Act
'md for adjudging confiscation of goods dutiable or prohibit-
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ed and imposing penalties.
The Customs Officer does not
at that stage accuse the person suspected of infringing the
provisions of the Sea Customs Act with the commission of
any offence.
His primary duty is to prevent smuggling and
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to recover duties of customs when collecting evidence in
respect of smuggling against a person suspected of infringin.g the provisions of the Sea Customs Act he is not accusing t'he person of any offence punishable at a trial before
a magistrate".
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After a survey of case law, the Court pointed out the
cirCUID6lances, the existence of which is ordinarily necessary to clothe
a
person with the character of a "person accused of an offence" :
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"Normally a person stands in the character of an accused when a First Information Report is lodged against him
in respect of an offence before an Officer
competent to
investigate it, or when a complaint is made relating to the
commission of an offence before a Magistrate competent
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to try or ~end to another Magistrate for trial the offence.
Where a Customs Officer arrests a person and informs that
person of the grounds of his arrest (which he is bound to do
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under Art. 221) of the Constitution for the purpose of bolding an enquiry into the infringement of the provisions of the
Sea Customs Act which he has reason to believe has taken
place, there is no formal accusation of an offence.
In the
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case of an offence by infringement of the Sea Customs Act
and punishable at the trial before a Magistrate, there is an
accusation when a ·complaint is lodged by an officer competent in that behalf before the Magistrate".
The above-quoted observations are a complete answer to
the
contention of the appellant.
In the light of these principles, it
is
clear that when the statement of the appellant was recorded by the
Customs Officer under s. 108, the appellant
was
not
a person
"accused of any offence" under the Customs Act, 1962.
An accuF
sation which would stamp him with the character of such a person
was levelled only when the complaint was filed against him, by the
Assistant Collector of Customs complaining of the
commission
of
offences under ·s. 135(a) and s. 135(b) of the Customs Act.
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True, that the appellant was arrested by the police on December
12, 1967 on suspicion of having committed an offence under s. 124,
of the Bombay Police Act and a Panchnama of the packaees in the
truck was also prepared. But the factual ingredients of that offence
are materially different from those of an offence under the Customs
Act. This will be apparent from a bare reading of s. 124 of the
Bombay Police Act, which provides :
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"Whoever has in his possession or conveys
in
any
manner, or offers for sale or pawn, anything which there is
676
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1976] 3 S.C.R.
A
reason to believe is stolen property or property fraudulently
obtained shall, if he fails to account for such possession or
to act to the satisfaction of the Magistrate, on c0nviction,
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be p~hed with imprisonment for a term (which may
extend to one year but shall not, except for reasons to be
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recorded in writing, be less than one month and shall also
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be liable to the fine which may extend to
five
hundred
rupees).
Even in respect of that offence, the police did not register any
case or enter any F .I.R. which normaJ.Iy furnishes a foundation for
commencing a police investigation.
The police did not open the
packages or prepare inventories of the goods packed therein. Indeed,
the police appear to have dropped further proceedings. They did
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not take any steps for prosecuting the appellant even for an offence
under the Bombay Police Act, 1951. They informed the Customs
authorities, who opened the packages, inspected the goods and on
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finding them contraband goods, -seized them under
a
Panchnama.
The Customs
authorities called the appellant and his companion
to the Customs House, took them into custody, and after due comD
pliance with the requirements of law, the Inspector of Customs questioned the appellant and recorded his statement under s. 108 of the
Customs Act.
Under the circumstances it was manifest that at the
'
time when the Custosm Officer recorded the statement of the appel-
!ant, the latter was not formally "accused of any offence."
The High
Court was therefore right in holding that the statement recorded by
the Inspector of Cnstoms was not hit by Article 20(3) of the Constitution.
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The next question to be considered is, whether this statement was
hit by s. 24 of the Evidence Act.
The contention is that this statemen! was obtained under compulsion of law inasmuch as he was required to state the truth under threat of prosecution for perjury.
For reasons that follow, we are unable to sustain this contention.
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To attract the prohibition enacted in s. 24, Evidence Act, these
facts must be established :
(i) that the statement in question is a confession;
(ii) that such confession has been made by an accused
person;
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(iii) that it has been made to a person in authority;
(iv) that the confession has been obtained by reason of
any inducement, threat or promise
a person in authority;
proceeding from
(v) such inducement, threat or promise, must have reH
ference to the charge against the accused person;
(vi) the inducement, threat or promise must in the opinion
of the Court be sufficient to give the accused person
grounds, which would appear to him reasonable, for
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VEERA IBRAHIM v. MAHARASHTRA (Sarkaria, !.)
677
.supposing that by making it he would
gain
any
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advantage or avoid any evil of a temporal nature in
reference to the proceedings against him.
In the present case, facts (i), (iv) and (vi) have not been established.
Firstly, the statement in question is not a "confession' within the contemplation of s. 24.
It is now well-settled that a statement in order to amount to a "confession" must either admit in terms
the offence, or at any rate substantially all the facts which constitute
the offence. An admission of an incriminating fact, howsoever grave,
is not by itself a confession.
A statement which contains an exculpatory assertion of some fact, which if true, woulrl negative the offence
allep,ed, cannot amount to a confession (see Pakala
Narayana
v.
R, ( ) ; Plavinder Kaur v. State of Punjab; ( 2) Om Prakash v.State(').
A perusal of the statement Ex, I made by the appellant before the
Inspector of Customs would show that it contained exculpatory matter.
Therein, the deponent claimed that he was not aware that the packages which were loaded in the truck were contraband goods, and alleged that the goods were not loaded under his instructions.
The deponent claimed to be an innocent traveller in the truck when he said :
"I did not ask Mullaji (driver) what goods were being loaded in his
Jorry.
Mullaji was only my friend and I was not aware of any
of his mala fide activities".
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Moreover, the incriminating facts admitted in this statement, do
not, even if taken cumulatively amount to admission of all the facts
which constitute any offence,
To bring home an offence under s. 135
of the Customs Act, in addition to the facts admitted in Ex. I, it had
to be established further that these goods were contraband goods,
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For these reasons, it could be said beyond doubt, that the statement Ex. 1 was not a "confession" within the meaning of s. 24,
Evidence Act.
Secondly, it has not been shown that the Customs Officer-thongb.
a person in authority-had offered any inducement or held out any
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threat or promise to the appellant.
Christopher Soares, the Inspector of Cnstoms (P, W. 4) testified
that no threats, coercion or inducements were used and that
the
statement Ex. 1 was made by the appellant, voluntarily,
While it may be conceded that a person summoned by an Officer
of Cnstoms to make a statement nnder s. 108 of the Customs Act, is
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under compulsion of Jaw to state the truth, the compulsion thereunder, assuming it amounts to a threat, does not proceed "from
a
person in authority" within the contemplation of s. 24, but emanates
from law.
Thirdly, the mere fact that the Inspector of Cnstoms had, before
recording the statement, warned the deponent of the possibility of his
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(I) 66 I.A. 66.
(2) [1953] S.C.R. 94.
(3) A.I.R. 1960 S.C. 409,
678
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1976] 3 S.C.R.
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prosecution for perjury in case he did not make the statement truthfully, cannot be construed as a threat held out by the officer whicli
could have reasonably caused the person making the statement to
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suppose that he would . by making that statement, gain any advantage
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or avoid any evil of a temporal nature in reference to the proceedl
ings against him for smuggling.
In view of what has been said above, we have no hesitation in
holding that the statement Ex. 1, was not barred under s. 24, Evidence
Act.
The statement Ex. P-1 was clearly admissible under s. 21,
Evidence Act as an admission of incriminating facts.
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Lastly, Mr. Chaudhry tried to contend that the incnmmating
facts admitted in Ex. 1 taken along with the other facts appearing
in the evidence of prosecution witnesses, were insufficient to establish an offence under s. 135, Customs Act against the appellant
because no notification under sub-s. (2) of s. 123, of the Customs
Act had been issued in respect of the import of the goods of
the
o
kind seized, and the aid of the statutory presumption under
that
section was not available to the prosecution.
We are unable to accept this contention.
While it is true that
in the absence of the requisite notification, the statutory presumption under s. 123 could not be invoked by the prosecution, the cirE
cumstances established unerringly raise an inference with regard
to
all the factual ingredients of an offence nuder s. 135(b) read with
s. 135(ii) of the Customs Act. In Ex. l which was proved by P.W. 4,
it is admitted that these packages which were later found to contain
contraband goods by the Customs authorities, were
surreptitiously
loaded in the truck under cover of darkness at Reti Bunder (sea shore)
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from the side of sea-side wall, in the presence of the appellant, and
thereafter the first accused took the wheel, while the appellant sat by
his side in the truck, and drove towards Sandhurst Station. It is
further admitted that some Bania paid Rs. 2,000/- to the appellant
which was meant to be given to the driver of the truck. Unfortunately, the truck skidded near the Dongri Police Station and came to
a
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stop.
On hearing the impact of the accident, the police came out,
took both the accused into the Police Station and seized the truck
and the goods.
In short, the appellant had clearly admitted
that
these packages containing the contraband goods were imported surreptitiously from Reti Bunder under cover of darkness. It was further
established de-hors the statement of the appellant, that these packH
ages, on opening by the Customs Officer, were found to contain contraband goods of foreign make.
They were brand uew articles packed.
The circumstances of the arrest of the appellant while escaping
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VEERA IBRAHIM v. MAHARASHTRA (Sarkaria, !.)
679
from the truck, the seizure of the truck and the goods, the contraband
natnre of the goods, the fact that at the time of the seizure, the goods,
were in the charge of the appellant, the fact that no duty on these
goods had been paid, the seizure of Rs. 2,000/· as cash from the
appellant etc. were proved by evidence aliwuie rendered by P. Ws. I
and 2.
To some extent, the hostile witness, P.W. 5, also, supported
the
prosecution.
The circumstances established unmistakably and
irresistibly pointed to the conclusion that the appellant was knowingly
concerned in a fraudulent attempt at evasion, if not, fraudulent evasion, of duty chargeable on those contraband goods.
In the result, the appeal fails and is dismissed.
M.R.
Appeal dismissed.
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