Gold smuggling at IGI airport: Court denies bail to accused

A Delhi court has dismissed the bail plea of a man, accused of smuggling 760 gold coins worth Rs 1.33 crores from Dubai and throwing them in a dustbin at the IGI airport here, saying prima facie it appeared to be a case of customs duty evasion.
Special Judge Gurvinder Pal Singh rejected the bail plea of accused Hameed Sultan Mohammed Ali, who had arrived at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport from Dubai on July 14 and had allegedly thrown five packets containing over six kilogrammes of gold into the dustbin of a toilet.
Holding that there was a prima facie case of customs duty evasion by Ali, the court said the alleged criminal act causing loss to public revenue clearly depicted that the accused did not deserve to be released on regular bail, at least at this stage.

According to the prosecution, Ali had arrived at the IGI airport on July 14 and he was intercepted at the exit gate of customs arrival hall while he was going out.
It claimed that on arrival at the airport, Ali had entered the toilet and had thrown five packets containing 760 gold coins in the dustbin of the toilet. Those packets were recovered at the instance of the accused as well as the sweeper of the toilet, customs officers said.
They alleged that in his statement, the accused had admitted to have gone to the toilet on July 14 after getting out of the aircraft.

The prosecution alleged that Shyam Sunder, who was working at the IGI airport, had also stated that while cleaning the toilet, he had noticed five small yellow colour packets in the dustbin and, thereafter, he had informed the customs officers.

During the arguments on bail plea, the counsel appearing for Ali said his client was innocent and he was not connected with the smuggled goods and the recovery of gold coins was done from the dustbin at the airport here.
He argued that there was no cogent evidence against Ali so he should be enlarged on bail.
During the adjudication of the plea, the investigating officer also submitted a verification report before the court saying that no one by the name of Hameed Sultan was residing at the address given in the passport of the accused.