TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1990 (12) TMI 207
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....24 on 12-7-1986 by officers of Customs (Preventive), West Bengal parked in a petrol pump near Mogra Entry Tax Check Post. The truck was found loaded with heavy machines and opening the same it was found that large quantity of Hashish was found concealed within the said walls of the machines. The Hashish so packed was found to be 743 Kgs. valued at Rs. 7,43,000,00.00. These were attempted to be imported by the persons concerned. Investigation was proceeded in this matter. 3. The premises of Lee and Muirhead (I) Pvt. Ltd., 5, Clive Row, Calcutta was searched and certain documents were secured. The statements of the officials of that concern were recorded under Section 108 of Customs Act, 1962. 4. Accordingly, a thorough investigation was al....
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.... goods liable for confiscation. 7. The learned S.D.R., Shri M.N. Biswas contended that the proprietor's son, Shri Tushar Pandit and the typist, Dhruba Chandra Das had given two contradictory statements about the typing. According to Dhruba Chandra Das the typing was done on or about 2-7-1986 whereas Tushar Pandit stated that it was typed on 11-7-1986. Shri Biswas also contended that under Sec. 114 of the Customs Act, 1962 no mens rea is required to be proved for imposition of penalty and this section is analogous to Sec. 112(a) of the Customs Act, 1962. Shri Biswas also contended that even assuming that the Shipping Bill was typed on 11-7-1986 still it shows an undue haste and lack of diligence by the appellants' firm in the preparation of....
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....Collector in this behalf which reads as follows : "During personal hearing, it was submitted that according to the statement of Shri Narinder Kumar while he mentioned certain persons like S/Shri Harnam Singh, Gurdeep Singh, K.M. Virmani and S.P. Rao, the said Shri Narinder Kumar nowhere mentioned the names of Shri Mohanlal Pandit or Tushar Pandit; that the statements of first driver, second driver and the cleaner were also referred to and it was stated that neither of them ever implicated either Shri Mohanlal Pandit or Shri Tushar Pandit; it was also stated that from the statements of the representatives of M/s. Lee & Muirhead, the same thing transpired that Shri Narinder Kumar came to know about both the Clearing Agents only from publishe....
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.... could not have been typed on 2nd or 3rd of July, 1986 as has been stated by the department. This conclusion appears to be plausible and further strengthened by the fact that in the elaborate statements, none of the persons, involved in the unauthorised export of hashish, implicated Shri Mohanlal Pandit or his firm or anybody in the said firm. However, granting that the shipping bill was typed on 11-7-1986 this shows undue haste and lack of due diligence in the preparation of shipping bill for which no explanation has come forth. When, according to the explanation tendered by M/s. Shaikh & Pandit, Shri Narinder Kumar after handing over the shipping bill on 11-7-1986 went away stating that he would come back again on 14-7-1986, there was no ....