1986 (2) TMI 334

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.... residence of Sitaram Somani and recovered thirty six foreign gold biscuits from a steel case in an almirah in the house. 12,100 US dollars were also recovered. A statement was recorded from Sitaram Somani. Sitaram Somani and Om Parkash were arrested and produced before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate on 2nd January, 1985. Bail was refused by the Magistrate. But thereafter on applications made by the two accused persons, the High Court of Rajasthan granted bail to both of them subject to certain conditions. One of the conditions was that the two accused should not leave India without the permission of the learned Sessions Judge. The passports of the accused had already been seized by the Customs Department. The accused were at larg....

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.... of gold, foreign currency from his premises. (c) Shri Om Prakash had also moved bail application in the court of Addl. Chief Judicial Magistrate, Session Court and High Court. He had retracted from his confessional statement and also his association with the petitioner. (d) The petitioner had retracted from the statement by making an application to the Collector of Customs on 19.1.1985. (e) Shri Om Prakash had also retracted from his confessional statement by making an application on 18.1.1985. (f) .... (g) .... The petitioner says that the above material being very relevant and material which would have influenced the mind of the detaining authority one way or the other has been suppressed from the detaining authority. ....

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....dered at the time of confirming the detention order on 14th August, 1985". In the second counter, it was claimed that the Screening Committee consisting of the Law Secretary, the Director General and the Inspector General of Police and the Collector of Customs met on April 4, 1985 and considered the question of detaining the appellant under the COFEPOSA. At that time, it was said "All matters pertaining to confessional statements, retraction of confessional statements, bail applications, court's orders and all other records were placed before the Screening Committee by the Customs Department". It appears from the counter that thereafter the papers were processed by the Deputy Secretary to the Government of Rajasthan, Shri Pagoria, who s....

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....n a consideration of the relevant material, the detaining authority came to the conclusion that it was necessary to detain the appellant. But the question was whether the detaining authority applied its mind to relevant considerations. If it did not, the appellant would be entitled to be released. The counters to which we have referred seem to us to make it clear that relevant material was not placed before the detaining authority and therefore, there was no occasion for the detaining authority to apply its mind to the relevant material. In the circumstances, the appellant is entitled to be released. Before parting with the case, we must mention one circumstance. As at a certain stage, we were slightly perplexed by the counter filed on beha....