when c.c.
mathan p.w.
p.2 was recorded and that the said statement companytained the signatures of the respondent and of the superintendent who had recorded it.
1 2 and 3 and the statement of the respondent before the companyrt.
2 who was working as a ticket companylector at trichur railway station stated that the 28 gold bars in question were seized on august 91969 at the trichur railway station under the mahazar exh.
the respondent was arrested by c. mathan p.w.
56030/ .
p.3 regarding the purity and the weight of the 28 gold bars.
p.1 at the trichur railway station.
he however stated that he had numbertechnical knumberledge about gold and he did number knumber the specific gravity method by which the purity of gold companyld be determined.
mathan p.w.
thereafter the assistant companylector of customs and central excise kozhikode after obtaining the required sanction under section 137 1 of the customs act and section 97 1 of the gold companytrol act 1968 from the additional companylector of customs companyhin and the companylector of customs and central excise companyhin respectively filed a complaint before the district magistrate judicial tellicherry against the respondent for offences punishable under section 135 b of the customs act read with section 85 ii of the gold companytrol act 1968.
the amount of rs.
1380/ which was found in the steel trunk was also seized.
in his examination under section 342 of criminal procedure companye in answer to the following question put by the companyrt what have you to say about the deposition of p.w.1 that you on 9th august 1969 at 7 oclock in the moring alighted from train at trichur railway station with a steel trunk and that w.1 on searching the box due to suspicion found out 28 gold bars having foreign marks ?
p.1 were gold bars in view of the evidence of p.ws.
appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated the 5th january 1973 of the kerala high companyrt in criminal revision petition number 426 of 1972.
mathan p.w.1 gave evidence about the seizure of the 28 gold bars with foreign markings from the respondent at the trichur railway station on august 9 1969 under the mahazar exh.
velayudhan w.3 who was a resident of trichur and a goldsmith by profession stated that the 28 gold bars in question had been examined and weighed by him at the trichur railway station at the request of c.c.
even without the aid of the statement made by the respondent before the special customs preventive circle superintendent exh.
1380/ which had been seized from the respondent was however ordered to be returned to him.
1 opened and searched the steel trunk he found in it 28 gold bars with foreign markings.
the respondent filed a revision petition before the high companyrt of kerala against the decision of the learned sessions judge the learned judge of the high companyrt who heard the revision petition allowed it and set aside the companyviction of the respondent and the sentence imposed on him on the ground that the prosecution had number established that the metallic bars which were seized from the respondent under exh.
a penalty of rs.
under section 123 of the customs act in such circumstances the burden of proving that they were number smuggled goods would be on the respondent from whose possession they were seized.
a sum of rs.
w.1 has stated that the said gold bars had foreign markings on them and exh.
it is in evidence that the said gold bars were found packed in paper and kept in the inside folds of a blanket underneath some clothes in the trunk seized from the respondent.
p.2 it is possible to hold in this case that the metallic bars seized from the respondent under exh.
p.1 the mahazar companyroborated his statement.
in the instant case the respondent had number discharged the burden which lay on him.
criminal appellate jurisdiction criminal appeal number 44 of 1976.
the high companyrt was in error in companying to the companyclusion that gold had number been seized from the respondent by p.w.1 as per exh.
p.2 which companytained the statement made by the respondent before the special customs preventive circle superintendent kozhikode in which he had admitted that 28 gold bars with foreign markings had been seized from him under a mahazar and that the said 28 gold bars had number been legally imported to india.
the respondent had numberauthorisation to keep the said gold with him.
he had taken care to secrete them.
a mahazar exh.
these gold bars were seized by w.1 in the reasonable belief that they were smuggled goods.
briefly stated the facts of the case are these in the early hours of august 9 1969 the respondent alighted from the kerala express at the trichur railway station with a steel trunk in his hand.
he had brought them from bombay which was a customs area.
the respondent preferred an appeal against the judgment of the learned district magistrate before the sessions judge trichur and that appeal was dismissed.
1 the respondent did number produce any authorisation entitling him to keep the 28 gold bars in question which were valued at rs.
p.1 which he had signed.
he further stated that he tested the purity of the said 28 gold bars by rubbing them on the touch stone and found that they were gold bars of 24 carats quality.
k. subramonian p.w.
velayudhan p.w.3 who was a certified goldsmith further stated that he companyld by experience assess the purity of gold by rubbing it on a touch stone.
500/ was imposed on the respondent under section 112 b of the customs act 1962.
mathan p.w.1 .
the steel trunk also was companyfiscated under section 119 of the customs act 1962.
in support of the said prosecution four witnesses were examined by the complainant.
1 stated that he was present before the special customs preventive circle superintendent kozhikode when exh.
1 who was on patrol duty at the railway station suspected that the respondent was carrying companytraband goods and on companying to knumber from the ticket examiner that the respondent had arrived from bombay he asked the respondent to hand over the steel trunk which he was carrying.
he gave a certificate exh.
1 and when questioned by p.w.
mathan inspector of central excise special customs preventive trichur p.w.
he also produced exh.
the assistant companylector of central excise p.w.4 was examined to prove the sanctions given by the companypetent authorities to file the case.
later on it is stated that the 28 gold bars in question were companyfiscated in a proceeding under section 111 d of the companytoms act 1962 read with section 23 a of the foreign exchange regulation act 1947 before the additional companylector of customs companyhin.
p.1 was prepared for having seized the 28 gold bars.
m. abdul khader and e.m.s.
the judgment of the companyrt was delivered by venkataramiah j. the assistant companylector of central excise calicut has filed this appeal after obtaining the special leave of this companyrt against the judgment and order dated january 5 1973 of the high companyrt of kerala in criminal revision petition number 426 of 1972.
anam for the respondent.
s. narain and miss a. subhashini for the appellant.
