KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition seeking a directive to quash the detention order under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act (COFEPOSA) 1977 by the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau.A Division Bench comprising Justice K M Joseph and Justice A M Shafeeque dismissed the petition filed by Alex C Joseph, who is under custody in the foreign luxury car import case. The petitioner argued that the order of detention passed on April 13, 2000, has been passed for a wrong purpose based on irrelevant grounds. Alex was arrested by the Immigration staff at Hyderabad airport, when he was travelling on a fake passport recently.Standing counsel of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence(DRI) Advocate C P Udayabhanu submitted that the accused had been an absconder for the last 11 years after the detention order. So he cannot defend the detention order. The Bench observed that the petitioner was clearly absconding after the detention order. “No person who challenges the detention order at the pre-execution stage has a legal right. The DRI had indeed made available materials which tends to prove that the petitioner was absconding and also that he had indulged in undesirable activities even after the order of detention,” the court said.
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