No Evidence Of Supplier Of Tea Involved In Smuggling Poppy Seeds: Calcutta High Court Releases Vehicle And Tea

The Calcutta High Court has released the attached vehicle and tea on the grounds that the tea supplier was not involved in smuggling poppy seeds.

The bench of Justice Krishna Rao has observed that tea is perishable in nature, no involvement of the supplier of the tea with the smuggled poppy seeds has been ascertained, and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has no objection if the consignment of the petitioner is released.

The petitioner sought direction from the respondent authorities for the release of the detained goods of a value of Rs. 4,57,296; Rs. 3,92,588; and Rs. 5,61,332 to the petitioner.

Intelligence was gathered by the officers of the Directorate General of Goods & Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) that M/s Sanraj Metals Pvt. Ltd. (SMPL) have availed and passed on ineligible input tax credit (ITC) fraudulently without a supply of goods or services. The firms issuing bogus invoices to M/s. SMPL are either found to be non-existent or non-operational. During the investigation, M/s SMPL was found to have availed fake ITC of Rs. 79.12 Crore and passed on of the same, fraudulently, on the strength of bogus invoices without the supply of concomitant goods.

The petitioner appeared to be the Controller of M/s SMPL, who in alliance with Amit Gupta managed all the monetary and accounts-related matters of M/s SMPL.

The petitioner submitted that the petitioner booked three consignments of tea through the transporter Bajaj Parivahan Pvt. Ltd. to be delivered to M/s. Haryana Chai Bhandar. The consignment was being transported with an E-way bill along with a consolidated E-way bill generated by the transporter.

The respondent department detained the goods and vehicle. The petitioner requested that the respondent release his goods.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence stated that during the inquiry, it was ascertained from the transporter that the poppy seeds were booked in the name of Ramdana Seeds by a person from Nepal under the invoice and E-way Bill of the firm.

The goods were delivered to their godown for onward delivery in Delhi. In the statement, the authorised signatory informed that they were completely unaware of the fact that the poppy seeds were being sent in the name of Ramdana seeds, and none of the consignors of tea were aware of the fact that the consignment declared to be Ramdana seeds was loaded in the vehicle. As per the preliminary investigation, poppy seeds have been smuggled from Nepal, and a bogus invoice declaring the goods as Ramdana has been used to show the goods as bona fide.

The Bureau of Investigation authorities have intimated that the supplies have been found to be nonexistent. The tea is perishable in nature, and no involvement of the supplier of the tea with the smuggled poppy seeds has been ascertained. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has no objection if the consignment of the petitioner is released.

The department contended that as poppy seeds have been found in the vehicle, an investigation is to be carried out with regard to the ownership of the poppy seeds. If the tea is released in favour of the petitioner, the authorities may be given the liberty to take appropriate steps for the investigation to ascertain with regard to the poppy seeds.

The court stated that the State Authorities as well as the respondent shall be at liberty to carry out an investigation with regard to the poppy seeds, and if it is found with regard to illegal transportation of the poppy seeds, the authorities are free to take appropriate steps in accordance with the law.

Case Title: Radha Tea Merchant versus Senior Joint Commissioner

Case No.: WPA 731 of 2023

Date: 15.06.2023

Counsel For Petitioner: Vinay Shraff

Counsel For Respondent: Ratan Banik

Click Here To Read The Order