Sanika Deshpande –
Published On: October 26, 2021 at 15:38 IST
The Kerela High Court on October 25th Reserved it’s Judgement in Appeals filed by some of the Accused in the infamous gold Smuggling Case in the state of Kerela.
Division Bench of Justice K.V Chandran and Justice C Jayachandran extensively heard submissions from all parties involved before reserving it’s Judgement.
The Court said that the Judgement will be released within a week’s time.
The Applications were given for the Bail under Section 439 of CrPC for offences alleged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The Counsel Appearing for Swapna Suresh who is the prime Accused argued that the National Intelligence Agency Investigation was directed by Central Government to probe into questions that, if the smuggled gold was intended for funding Terrorism.
The Final report urged that no such links with Terrorism or transnational links were brought to the light by Investigating Agencies.
Additional Solicitor General S.V Raju appeared for the NIA.
He said that: “From the Rules, it is clear that the threshold for an economic offence is one lakh, but here the gold seized would amount to crores of rupees. We should look at what the legislature intended to execute by the Rules rather than applying it mechanically.”
The appellants were represented by Senior Advocates S. Sreekumar and Gopakumaran Nair. Advocates Nireesh Mathew, Martin Jose, Manu Tom, Sooraj T Elenjickal and Ashwin Kumar are also Appearing in the Matter.