Section 132(3) cannot operate without a lawful search, and final custody orders cannot be reopened in revision.

Section 132(3) of the Income-tax Act is ancillary to a lawful search under section 132(1) and cannot be invoked where no search has been conducted by the authorised officer. On these facts, the properties were already seized by police and in court custody, so the statutory precondition for section 132(3) was absent. A prior order under section 523 of the Criminal Procedure Code had also directed release of the cash, no revision was filed, and that order had attained finality; the Magistrate was therefore functus officio on that issue. The revision could not obtain relief and failed.

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Issues: Whether an order under section 132(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 could be issued where no search had been conducted by the authorised officer under section 132(1), and whether the Special Magistrate could still grant relief when an earlier order regarding the seized cash had already attained finality.

Analysis: The statutory scheme of section 132 contemplates entry and search under sub-section (1), followed by seizure of money, bullion, jewellery, or other valuable articles found in the course of that search. Section 132(3) is only an ancillary power meant for cases where seizure is not practicable after such search. In the present matter, the properties had been seized by the police in a criminal case and were already in court custody; there was no search by the authorised officer in exercise of section 132(1). As to the cash, an earlier order under section 523 of the Criminal Procedure Code had already directed release of the amount, no revision had been filed against it, and the matter had become final, leaving the Magistrate functus officio on that aspect.

Conclusion: The order under section 132(3) was not maintainable on these facts, and no relief could be granted in revision. The revision failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Section 132(3) can be invoked only as an incident of a lawful search under section 132(1), and once an earlier order on the same property has become final, the court becomes functus officio and cannot reopen the matter.

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