A two judge Bench of the Supreme Court of India, headed by the Chief Justice U U Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi has recently granted conditional bail to the accused undergoing investigation under the Customs Act, 1962 and Prevention of Money Laundering ( PML ) Act, 2002 if the investigation is still pending and is not mature enough for trial.
The appellant was permitted to import primary gold at a reduced rate so that after doing value addition and converting said gold into gold jewellery, he could earn valuable foreign exchange for the country by export of such gold jewellery. It is alleged that rather than exporting gold jewellery in terms of the obligation, the jewellery was diverted in the domestic market and in the process the offences were committed by the appellant.
The offence allegedly committed by the appellant by the petitioner, Sanjay Agarwal is under Section 132/135 of the Customs Act, 1962, pertaining to diversion of 54 Kgs of primary gold which was imported by the appellant through the canalising Agency-Metals & Minerals Trading Corporation (MMTC).
It was observed that, “for an offence where the maximum sentence could be punishable with imprisonment for seven years, the appellant has undergone custody for about a year” and bail was granted as the investigation was still pending.
Preet Kumar Agarwal, son of the petitioner, with whom, according to the prosecution, the gold jewellery was sought to be diverted was also released on bail in consideration of the facts that, his release was ordered way back on 05.05.2021 and the fact that beyond the assertion that the son was helping his father in the activities as alleged, nothing specifically has been attributed to the respondent.
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