Justice K T Sankaran discloses Rs 25 lakh bribe offer

Kochi: In a stunning revelation, a sitting judge of Kerala High Court on Monday said that smugglers had  offered him  Rs 25 lakh to save an accused detained under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA). Justice K.T. Sankaran made the oral observation and pursuant to this,  VACB special cell SP Sasidharan  met the judge later in the day and collected information.

Vigilance director Jacob Thomas asked the SP special cell to look into the matter. A division bench comprising Justice Sankaran and Justice A. Hariprasad also recused themselves from hearing the petitions challenging the preventive detention order issued against the accused persons in the gold smuggling case.   The case pertains to the smuggling of 2,000 kg of gold through Cochin International Airport with the help of airport staff, including an ex-immigration officer.

The judge observed that he received a phone call offering Rs 25 lakh or above if there was an order in favour of an accused.  The bench observed,  “quite unfortunately, we are not in a position to hear the cases for reasons beyond our control and for reasons which do not manifest a healthy state of affairs.  One of us (Justice  Sankaran) is not in a position to hear these cases due to certain subsequent   unfortunate events. Therefore, these cases are avoided by Justice  Sankaran.”

The order did not mention any names or the case details in which the bribe was offered. The accused in the case are P.S. Noushad,  A.A. Faisal,  M.M. Salim,  K.B. Fazil,  Yasir Ibnu Muhammed,  M.S. Syfudheen, Jabin K. Basheer, Bibin Scaria and Shinoy K. Mohandas. The accused except Faisal, who is absconding, were detained in the central prison, Thiruvananthapuram,  in October last year.   
 
If the events that followed the hearing of a petition challenging the preventive detention of the accused in a gold smuggling case were unprecedented, then the case itself must be unprecedented. And it is. The case is related to a series of instances of gold smuggling which, according to Customs officials, started sometime in 2013 and went on till 2015.

In the process, the gang brought in more than 2000 kg of gold. It ended when the Customs apprehended one Salim on May 25, 2015 and seized 13 kg of gold which was kept under the seats of two ferry coaches. The Customs which went after the accused zeroed in on a jeweller in Muvattupuzha and a police official deployed at the Emigration wing of CIAL.  Employees of a ground handling agency at the airport were also picked up.

The Customs has identified P A Noushad of Moovattupzha and Jabin K. Basheer, the immigration official, as the kingpins in the operation. Till now, more than 50 persons have been arrested in the case. Eight persons, now facing proceedings under COFEPOSA including property attachment, are in jail.

The Customs estimated that Basheer made at least Rs 8 crore facilitating the smuggling at the airport. His modus operandi was to collect the gold that carriers had deposited in the toilets of the immigration hall and take them out using his facilities as an emigration official.

The accused in the case are P.A. Noushad,  P.A. Faisal, M.M. Salim, K.B. Fazil, Yasir Ibnu Muhammed, M.S. Syfudheen, Jabin K. Basheer, Bibin Scaria and Shinoy K Mohandas. Of them, Faisal is absconding.