I.S. Tiwana, J. - (1.) The petitioner has been convicted by the Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Jullundur, under section 23(1) (b) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act for contravening the provisions of section 5 (1) (c) of the said Act by making payment of Rs. 3,000.00 to Ajudhia Parkash, P.W. on behalf of one Karam Singh, living in England and similarly for making a payment of Rs. 21,000.00 to Sohan Singh, P.W., on behalf of one Swarn Singh, living in U.K. and has been sentenced to undergo one and a half years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 500.00 on each count.
(2.) A complaint was filed against the petitioner on the allegations that on May 6, 1965, M.L. Wadhwa, P.W. 7, Enforcement Officer of the Ministry of Finance, had received some secret information against the petitioner and apprehended him at the New Delhi Railway Station when he was about to leave for Amritsar by the Flying Mail. The petitioner was taken to the office room of the Station Superintendent and there on his search and the bag he was carrying, currency notes worth Rs. 2.67,700.00 and some documents were recovered. One pocket diary, Exhibit P. 1, was also recovered from the person of the petitioner. Recovery memo, Exhibit P.A, in this regard was prepared giving the details and the numbers of the currency notes. A copy of the recovery memo was given to the petitioner. Later the petitioner was produced before Mr. A.J. Rana, Deputy Director of Enforcement and in his presence he (the petitioner) gave a statement, which is Exhibit P.W. 5/A Entries with regards to the payment made to Ajudhia Parkash and Sohan Singh, P. Ws., were also found in the said diary recovered from the petitioner. A directive, Exhibit P.W. 3/A was issued to Sohan Singh. P.W., and his reply thereto .is Exhibit P.W. 3/C. According to this version of the prosecution, the amount of Rs. 21,000.00 was paid to Sohan Singh, P.W. on April, 24, 1965, and the amount of Rs. 3,000.00 was paid to Ajudhia Parkash, P.W. on Feb. 23, 1965.
(3.) After recording the evidence of Sohan Singh, P.W. 3 ; Ajudhia Parkash, P.W. 5 and some other witnesses, the petitioner was charge-sheeted by the trial Magistrate. Some of the witnesses were recalled for further cross-examination by the petitioner, but Sohan Singh, P.W. 3, could not be made available as he had in the meantime left for a foreign country.;