The Madras High Court has recently disposed of the Writ Petition to release goods of Ishak on behalf of the Sri-Lankan Nationals whose goods were seized by the Chennai Air Customs Officers at Chennai International Airport in addition to a plea to quash the Press Release and release the seized goods, in relation to alleged gold smuggling.
The Press Release dated 03.06.2022, which was challenged by the petitioner, was upheld by the bench as the investigation was still ongoing.
According to the press release, 60 gold bars and one gold ingot weighing 9.02 Kgs in total, valued at Rs. 4.21 Crores were seized under the Customs Act, 1962.
Customs authorities were in the process of completing investigation and were proposing to issue show cause notice under Section 124 of the Customs Act, 1962 was recorded, according to the submissions of the Assistant Solicitor General R Sankaranarayanan.
He also added that, “respondents 1 and 2 are in the process of investigating the issue pertaining to gold seized on 02.06.2022 from the lavatory of Indigo airlines flight bearing No.6 E 66. As the petitioners in this case allege that the subject gold belongs to them, the state after completion of investigation will issue show cause notice in accordance with Section 124 of the Customs Act, 1962”.
The Show Cause Notice under Section 124 was directed to be issued within the stipulated time frame as per the Customs Act. The liberty to issue summons and facilitate arrival of the petitioners was also preserved by the Madras High Court.
The Single Bench of Justice Anita Sumanth also directed that the CCTV footage pertinent to the matter under investigation be preserved and also be supplied to petitioners upon request.
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