KOCHI: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has dismissed the petition of a customs superintendent challenging his termination order from the department after he was arrested for aiding gold smugglers at the Thiruvananthapuram airport in 2019. A panel comprising Justice Sunil Thomas and V Rama Mathew denied any relief to B Radhakrishnan, 55, who was dismissed from service while serving as Superintendent of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) at Thiruvananthapuram airport.
It was on May 13, 2019, two persons, including a woman, was intercepted by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and seized gold worth Rs 8.17 crore from their possession.
During the investigation, it was revealed that Radhakrishnan facilitated the smugglers to come out of the airport with contraband. DRI arrested Radhakrishnan on May 23, 2019, and he also underwent preventive detention under COFEPOSA. Then Customs Commissioner Sumit Kumar ordered a disciplinary inquiry against the officer.
The investigation revealed that he helped 26 passengers to smuggle gold from October 19, 2018, to May 5, 2019. He was thus dismissed from service in February 2020. The appeal filed before the Customs Commissioner was also ruled out in June 2021.
When the case came into consideration before the CAT, it examined all the evidence collected by Customs and DRI against Radhakrishnan.
“On an evaluation of the entire materials, we are satisfied that there is no scope for interference. The authorities have arrived at the proper conclusions on the basis of materials gathered against the applicant. Applicant is not entitled to any relief in this Original Application (OA),” it ordered.