The Madras High Court on Monday denied bail to three Chennai based jewellers who obtained customs duty free gold bars weighing 218 kg under a central scheme for those who export gold jewels, without selling them in the domestic market, but cheated the State exchequer by exporting gold coated copper jewellery under a false declaration that they were 22 carat gold jewels.
Justice G. Jayachandran refused to order release of Deepak G. Siroya of Siroya Jewellers, Santosh Kothari of Shree Kalyan Jewellery and Sunil Parmar of Sunil Jewellery considering the ramification of the offence and the design conceived by the petitioners to evade custom duty. He said the release of the petitioners might lead to tampering of witnesses and hence they could not be granted bail.
“It is for the courts to balance the nation’s economic interest as against the individual personal liberty. Not in all cases, the period of incarceration alone matters while deciding a bail plea. The stage of investigation, the ramification of the crime, its network and the possibility of screening vital links if the petitioners are let out on bail are also the factors to be taken into consideration,” the judge observed.
