Imposition of penalty - Smuggling - Gold bars of foreign origin...

Imposition of penalty - Smuggling - Gold bars of foreign origin - illegally imported goods - CESTAT held that, once the two Appellants disputed the fact of recovery of confiscated gold bars from them and also disputed the panchnama dated 30.03.2019, the panch witnesses were required to be offered for cross-examination so that the truth of the contents of the panchnama and the recovery made from the two Appellants could have been established. The Revenue has also not got the confiscated gold bars tested by touchstone method to test the purity of the confiscated gold bars. Consequently, the tribunal set aside the penalties and dropped the proceedings.