Criminal court lacks jurisdiction to release cash validly requisitioned under the Income-tax Act; statutory tax procedure governs.

When cash seized by police is validly requisitioned by income-tax authorities under section 132A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the money passes into the statutory income-tax machinery and its release or retention must be dealt with under that Act, including the procedure then applicable under section 132(5). The Magistrate or Sessions Court has no jurisdiction to order release of the requisitioned assets, particularly where the Income-tax Department is not impleaded. The criminal court application for return of the cash was therefore not maintainable and the order directing release could not stand.

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Issues: Whether, after requisition of cash seized by the police under section 132A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, an application for release of the money before the Magistrate or Sessions Court under the Code of Criminal Procedure was maintainable.

Analysis: Once the police had taken custody of the cash and the competent income-tax authority had lawfully requisitioned it under section 132A, the money stood delivered to the requisitioning officer and thereafter fell within the statutory machinery of the Income-tax Act, 1961. On such delivery, the assets are treated as being under the income-tax law framework and their release, retention, or adjustment is to be governed by the provisions of that Act, including the procedure under section 132(5) as applicable at the relevant time. In that situation, the Magistrate or Sessions Court had no occasion to direct release of the assets, particularly when the Income-tax Department was not impleaded in the proceedings.

Conclusion: The application for release before the criminal court was not maintainable, and the order directing return of the money could not be sustained.

Final Conclusion: The revision succeeded and the order of the Sessions Judge was set aside, leaving the requisitioned cash to be dealt with under the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Ratio Decidendi: When assets seized by the police are validly requisitioned by the income-tax authorities under section 132A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the criminal court lacks jurisdiction to order their release, and the matter is governed exclusively by the statutory scheme of the Income-tax Act.

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