MUMBAI: Almost 40 years after being booked in a Rs 12-crore smuggling case along with absconding suspect in the 1993 Bombay serial blasts, Mohammed Dossa, two city residents including a woman were acquitted for lack of evidence. The trial against Dossa will be kept pending.
Acquitting Aboobakar Kapadia and Amrita Shah, the magistrate’s court said, “In absence of proper and cogent evidence against the accused, no charge can be proved….” There was a case against Shah’s brother too, but he died in October this year. The trio were out on bail.
According to the prosecution, between May and December 1982, 10 people smuggled into India 65,000 tolas of gold valued at nearly Rs 12.7 crore, 70 packages of textiles and other goods, 55 packages of VCR, and TV, 50,000 wrist watches, perfumes and other goods valued at Rs 1 crore evading customs duty. Besides Dossa, four Pakistani nationals and two other Indian suspects are still absconding.
Witnesses including then intelligence officers and assistant directors in the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Superintendent of Customs, Marine and Preventive Wing, Bombay Customs, deposed but remained unavailable when the defence had to cross-examine them. The magistrate cited a Supreme Court ruling which held that right to cross-examine the witness is a precious right of the accused. “It was therefore obligation of complainant to make those witnesses available for cross examination,” the court said.
The prosecution had submitted that on December 16, 1982, DRI had a tip-off that smuggled gold and money would exchange hands between Pakistani and Indian operators near Minerva Theatre, Grant Road. At 2 pm the officers noticed a white Fiat followed by an Ambassador car coming from the direction of Opera House. The prosecution said an exchange of packets was noted between occupants of the cars.
During a search, Rs 14 lakh in cash was recovered. Officers then raided the Byculla residence of the Pakistani nationals. During the search at Dossa’s Agripada home, documents and “foreign goods” were seized. The prosecution also submitted that a Bhuj-based suspect who is absconding, Mithu Padiyar, had confessed he was involved in the landing and transporting of the smuggled goods.
In 1986, sanction was granted to prosecute the accused under the Customs Act. The Pakistanis had fled by then.
The court in its judgement noted that while the prosecution did not take necessary steps, in 2012, a magistrate had fixed the matter for framing of charges. In 2019, charges were framed against Kapadia and the Shah siblings under the Customs Act, lmports and Exports (Control) Act and Indian Penal Code. The trio pleaded not guilty. Since the prosecution did not bring witnesses for cross examination, in January 2020 the trial ended.
