Kolkata, Nov 26 : With the Supreme Court restoring the detention orders issued against the "uncle-nephew duo" of Ashok Jalan and Amit Jalan under the COFEPOSA Act, both the accused have surrendered and are now lodged in a correctional home here, a DRI official said on Tuesday.
The Jalans were arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths in June for "corporate type smuggling" of gold amounting to Rs 120 crore and booked under COFEPOSAA (Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities) Act.
However, they moved a writ petition before the Delhi High Court against the order, following which the judiciary on August 2 quashed the detention order.
Ashok and Amit Jalan were then released from custody.
Challenging the court order, the DRI moved a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court, following which the apex court set aside the order of the Delhi High Court on November 22.
"Ashok Jalan and Amit Jalan have since surrendered and have been taken into custody and were lodged in Presidency Correctional Home on Sunday," the DRI official said.
According to the official, taking cue from the seizure of 8 kg of foreign origin gold inside a bus at Dankuni toll plaza, the DRI sleuths arrested the "uncle-nephew duo" who was instrumental in successfully ferrying huge quantity of smuggled gold from various bordering locations.
Investigation revealed that Ashok Jalan, the mastermind in several cases of smuggling, was running a very well-oiled, well-coordinated corporate type smuggling 'organisation'.
The structure enabled him to remain incognito for the past five years.
Gradually, he got involved in hawala transactions with operators of Bangladesh who functioned through Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong.
This is the third time that Ashok Jalan is being detained under COFEPOSA.
--IANS
ssp/prs.
Source: IANS
