Admissibility of confessional statements recorded under Section...

Admissibility of confessional statements recorded under Section 108 of the Customs Act requires proof of voluntariness and may be corroborated by independent subsequent discovery and recoveries; concurrent findings of guilt by trial and appellate courts were held not perverse or legally unsound, precluding interference under Article 136. Given the age of the case, the abandoned condition of recovered goods, acquittal of several co-accused, deaths of some appellants, advanced age of survivors, prolonged pendency and the period of incarceration already undergone (exceeding the statutory minimum), the sentence was reduced to time already served and bail bonds discharged.

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