TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2020 (10) TMI 1136
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....20 Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Cochin. 2. The applicant claims to be one of the Senior most civil servant who was working as Principal Secretary (Information Technology) and also as Secretary to the Chief Minister of Kerala. He has been placed under suspension and is now apprehending arrest in connection with the aforesaid OR No.7/2020 registered by the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Cochin. The events which led to apprehension of arrest entertained by the applicant are thus:- The applicant claims to have an unblemished service record of more than three decades. The aforesaid Crime was registered by the Customs Commissioner ATC based on an allegation that the persons named Sarith, Swapna and Sundeep along with several othe....
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....Commissioner, Customs House, AIR Cargo Complex, Thiruvananthapuram directing the applicant to appear before them at 6 p.m. The applicant was totally exhausted due to the constant and continuous travel from Thiruvananthapuram to Cochin and back, also due to extensive questioning till late night. However, ignoring the health of the applicant the customs officials took him along with them in their car. On the way to their office he developed chest pain, and the officers themselves rushed him to the nearby hospital. He was admitted there and underwent treatment in the Cardiac ICU. The applicant was referred to the Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram and is undergoing treatment for radiating pain to his lower back and legs. The applican....
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....oms Act. He has not yet been made an accused. But, he has to provide very important information regarding the smuggling of Gold through diplomatic channel. Swapna Suresh who is one of the prime accused in the aforesaid Crime was working as the Secretary to the Consulate General and was in constant contact with the applicant. He had the knowledge of her involvement in the smuggling activities and therefore, he is not entitled to the exceptional remedy of pre-arrest bail in this case. 4. Heard learned Senior Counsel Sri.P.Vijayabhanu, appearing for the applicant and learned Senior Counsel Sri.K.Ramkumar appearing for the respondents. 5. The learned Senior Counsel appearing for the applicant would submit that there is no embargo under the Cu....
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....ve facts of commission of an offence enumerated and the custom officer has reason to believe that a person sought to be arrested has been guilty of commission of such offence. The power to arrest thus is circumscribed by objective considerations and cannot be exercised on whims, caprice or fancy of the officer." In the aforesaid decision, the Honourable Supreme Court has sufficiently dealt with the power of the courts to grant anticipatory bail to a person summoned under Section 108 of the Customs Act and held that it was premature in nature, and the applicants who had filed the application for anticipatory bail were directed to appear before the Customs Authorities. 8. A Division Bench of this Court in Kishin S.Loungani v. Union of India....
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....irectorate of Enforcement [2019 KHC 6886 SC (2019) 9 SCC 24], wherein it was held that power under Section 438 Cr.PC being an extraordinary remedy has to be exercised sparingly; more so, in cases of economic offences, and that economic offences stand as a different class as they affect the economic fabric of the society. The Court also relied on the earlier decisions of the Apex Court in Directorate of Enforcement v. Ashok Kumar Jain (AIR 1998 SC 631) , wherein it was held that in economic offences, the accused is not entitled to anticipatory bail. Similar was the view taken by the Apex Court in Rohit Tandon v. Directorate of Enforcement [2017 KHC 6767 : (2018) 11 SCC 46] , wherein it was held that economic offences having deep-rooted consp....