2020 (9) TMI 752

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.... appearing for the petitioner submitted that the respondent is a foreign national who arrived to Chennai from Korea via Hongkong by Cathay Pacific Flight was intercepted by the Intelligence Officer of the petitioner and recovered four Nos. gold bars each with foreign marking "ARG UAE" 1 kg 999.9 FINE GOLD ARG MELTER ASSAYER bearing Nos.A14411, A14412, A 14424 and A14425 respectively to be of 24 karat purity, totally weighing 4 kgs worth of Rs. 1,33,52,000/-. Hence, he was arrested for the offences under Sections 135(1) (a), 135 (1) (b), 135(1) (i) (a) of Customs Act, 1962 and remanded before the Judicial Magistrate, Special Court for Customs, Alandur, Chennai. His passport was also seized and produced before the Court. Thereafter, he was re....

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....as also detained by the petitioner. On the basis of the remand report, the respondent was produced before the learned Magistrate and he was remanded to judicial Custody. Thereafter he was released on bail on certain conditions. 3.1 He further submitted that as per his e-Visa conditions, he cannot stay more than 180 days on each visit to India. As a foreign national, as per the ETA visa he cannot stay in India after 24.04.2020. Now he has to report before the Foreigners Regional Registration Office(FRRO) before expiry of 180 days. Due to detention of his passport, he could not able to report before the authority concerned. Therefore, the respondent filed petition in Crl.MP.No.116 of 2020 for return of his passport. The learned Magistrate ....

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....4 karat purity, totally weighing 4 kgs worth of Rs. 1,33,52,000/-. His passport was also seized by the respondent and produced before the learned Judicial Magistrate, Special Court for Customs, Alandur, Chennai. The respondent is a South Korean national and he visited India on his e-Visa ETA.No.901F0047J issued by Indian Consolate at Seoul dated 08.10.2019 for a period of one year ends on 06.10.2020 with multiple visits. Therefore, the respondent filed petition in Crl.MP.No.116 of 2020 for return of his passport and the same was allowed by the learned Judicial Magistrate, Special Court for Customs, Alandur, Chennai on the following conditions: (i) The petitioner shall execute a bond for Rs. 10,000/- along with two sureties on 03.06....

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....s required by the DRI, which is the prosecuting agency. 10. In view of the above, this Court issues the following directions: (a) The learned Additional Chief Metropolitan Magisterial, E.O.- II, Egmore, Chennai is directed to hand over the passports of the petitioners to the Senior Intelligence Officer, DRI, T.Nagar, Chennai-600017, under due acknowledgment. (b) The DRI, Chennai is directed to submit a proforma for issue of Look Out Circular to the FRRO, Chennai to prevent the petitioners from fleeing India. (c) The Senior Intelligence Officer, DRI, Chennai shall submit the passports of the petitioners to the FRRO, Chennai with a request to extend their Visas for a reasonable period. (d) The petitioner....

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....lar foreigner or any prescribed class or description of foreigner, for prohibiting, regulating or restricting the entry of foreigners into 2[India] or, their departure therefrom or their presence or continued presence therein. 2(b) shall not depart from 2[India], or shall depart only at such times and by such route and from such port or place and subject to the observance of such conditions on departure as may be prescribed" Accordingly, the authority concerned by order can prohibit the foreigner that he shall not depart from India. 6. It is relevant to extract Section 14 of Foreigners Act, 1946, as follows: 14A.Penalty for entry in restricted areas, etc. - Whoever- (a) enters into any area in India, which i....

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.....Penalty for abetment.-Whoever abets any offence punishable under section14 or section 14A or section 14B shall, if the act abetted is committed in consequence of the abetment, be punished with the punishment provided for the offence. 7. The respondent came to India by ETA business visa. His entry was on 28.11.2019, and the permission to stay expired on 28.04.2020. Therefore his stay at India became illegal under Section 14 of Foreigners Act without Registration Request to FRRO, Chennai prior to valid e-visa period, namely 25.04.2020. Since the petitioner was arrested and his passport was seized, he was not able to register his request for extension of his visa at FRRO, Chennai. That apart, the offence registered as against the petitione....