https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=465130 CESTAT allowed the appeal and set aside confiscation of six seized gold biscuits, waist belt, newspapers, and waist coat, along with penalties under s.112(a) and (b) of the Customs Act, 1962. The Tribunal held that the alleged confessional statement dated 14.02.2022 was not voluntary, having been recorded late at night under duress, with suspicious drafting and overlap with the panchnama. Relying on the principle that only voluntary confessions are evidentiary, CESTAT rejected reliance on this statement. As no independent evidence established the foreign or smuggled origin of the gold, the statutory burden on the Department was not discharged, rendering confiscation and penalty unsustainable. en-us Thu, 12 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0530 Sun, 07 Dec 2025 20:06:40 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=465130 CESTAT allowed the appeal and set aside confiscation of six seized gold biscuits, waist belt, newspapers, and waist coat, along with penalties under s.112(a) and (b) of the Customs Act, 1962. The Tribunal held that the alleged confessional statement dated 14.02.2022 was not voluntary, having been recorded late at night under duress, with suspicious drafting and overlap with the panchnama. Relying on the principle that only voluntary confessions are evidentiary, CESTAT rejected reliance on this statement. As no independent evidence established the foreign or smuggled origin of the gold, the statutory burden on the Department was not discharged, rendering confiscation and penalty unsustainable. Case-Laws Customs Thu, 12 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=465130