Customs Act search and seizure powers cannot be expanded through CrPC to freeze a bank account without statutory authority.

Where the Customs Act, 1962 expressly governs search and seizure, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence cannot invoke Section 102 CrPC to create a freezing power that the Act does not confer. The Act permits search on "reason to believe" under Section 105(1) and seizure under Section 110 only within its statutory limits, but it contains no authority to freeze a bank account or suspend banking operations by direction. The special procedure under the Customs Act therefore excludes recourse to the general criminal procedure provision, and the freezing direction was without jurisdiction and unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence had jurisdiction under the Customs Act, 1962, or by resort to Section 102 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, to direct freezing of the petitioner's bank account pending investigation.

Analysis: The Customs Act, 1962 contains specific provisions governing search, seizure and confiscation. Under Section 105(1), search can be authorised only on "reason to believe", and Section 110 permits seizure of goods, documents and things only on the statutory preconditions being satisfied. The Act does not contain any provision authorising freezing of a bank account. The attempt to invoke Section 102 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 failed because the DRI officers were not police officers, and in any event the special procedure under the Customs Act excluded recourse to the general provision. The power to seize property under Section 102 could not be used to bypass the checks and balances built into the Customs Act. A bank account may, in a proper case, be dealt with under the Customs Act to the extent permitted by law, but no authority existed to suspend banking operations by a freezing direction.

Conclusion: The freezing direction was without jurisdiction and unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded and the impugned communication was set aside, while leaving the respondents free to proceed in accordance with the Customs Act, 1962.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a special statute expressly regulates search and seizure, the general powers under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 cannot be invoked to create an power that the special statute does not confer, and a bank account cannot be frozen unless the governing statute specifically authorises such action.

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