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3 booked for smuggling foreign currency acquitted as Customs fail to bring witnesses
The accused have been identified as Suresh Hole, 61, Rajendra Bhutada, 61 and Bharati Bhutada, 54 – all of them are residents of Pune.
Mumbai: A metropolitan magistrate court has acquitted three Pune residents who were allegedly caught smuggling foreign currency worth ₹1.25 crore out of the country in 2006 as the Customs failed to bring the witnesses against them for cross-examination.
The accused have been identified as Suresh Hole, 61, Rajendra Bhutada, 61 and Bharati Bhutada, 54 – all of them are residents of Pune.
Hole was intercepted at the Mumbai International Airport carrying UAE Dirhams illegally to Sharjah on January 8, 2006, said the prosecution case, adding that he had declared that he was carrying ₹4,100 and Qatar Riyal 2,000 with him in his leather wallet.
However, when the officials checked his baggage, they found three packets which were wrapped in newspapers. On opening the packets, the Customs officials found $25,000 and UAE Dirhams 36,000 in the first packet, 19 bundles containing $1,45,000 collectively and 1.53 lakh UAE Dirhams in the second packet and in the third packet, they found seven bundles of $65,000. The total value of these currencies was valued at ₹1.25 crore in 2006.
On being confronted with the recovery of the foreign currency, Hole told the investigators that he was asked to carry this by Rajendra and his wife Bharati. The trio was charged with illegally smuggling foreign currency out of the country.
The agency submitted a formal complaint before the magistrate court in June 2009. The court had examined two officials of the Customs Department and the one in charge of security at the airport. After finding substance in the prosecution, the magistrate court framed charges against him on November 10, 2022.
However, when the case came up for trial before the magistrate court, the prosecution failed to bring the officials for cross-examination by the defence lawyers, because of which the court said their evidence cannot be relied upon against the trio and acquitted the three accused for want of reliable evidence.
