bail was that he shall execute a bond for Rs.28.5 lakhs in favour of the Commissioner of Customs, Kochi, as per the procedure. Yet another condition slapped on the petitioner was that he shall furnish bank guarantee for Rs. 10 lakhs, within three weeks from the date of his release. There is no dispute that the petitioner has complied with the above two conditions besides executing a bond for an amount of Rs. 25,000/- with two solvent sureties. The petitioner was arrested on 15-6-2006. He was granted bail by this court on 21-6-2006. Now, for nearly 7 months, the petitioner has not been called for interrogation by the investigating agency. If they were really desirous of extracting relevant information from the petitioner, nothing prevented the investigating agency from interrogating the petitioner. The opposition came only when the petitioner sought permission to go abroad and release his passport for the said purpose Admittedly, the petitioner is not an Non-resident Indian. He is holding an Indian Passport and the chances of his fleeing from the country are remote. Merely because, he is an accused in a case involving evasion of customs duty, that is no reason for curtailing his freedom beyond a reasonable period. Under these circumstances, the petitioner is permitted to move the Addl. Chief Judicial Magistrate (Economic Offences), Ernakulam for release of the passport and for
