https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=384148 A voluntary and unretracted confession under Section 108 of the Customs Act, corroborated by WhatsApp communications and surrounding material, can sustain penalty for aiding and abetting smuggling under Section 112(a) even without physical possession of the contraband. The absence of cross-examination did not vitiate the penalty on these facts because the statements were admitted, not retracted, and were independently supported by record material. Challenges based on Section 138B of the Customs Act and Section 65B of the Information Technology Act were found unpersuasive, and the impugned order was upheld with the penalties maintained. en-us Tue, 06 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0530 Sat, 14 Mar 2020 12:19:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=384148 A voluntary and unretracted confession under Section 108 of the Customs Act, corroborated by WhatsApp communications and surrounding material, can sustain penalty for aiding and abetting smuggling under Section 112(a) even without physical possession of the contraband. The absence of cross-examination did not vitiate the penalty on these facts because the statements were admitted, not retracted, and were independently supported by record material. Challenges based on Section 138B of the Customs Act and Section 65B of the Information Technology Act were found unpersuasive, and the impugned order was upheld with the penalties maintained. Case-Laws Customs Tue, 06 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=384148