The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Thursday seized a 6-ft tall bronze statue worth over Rs 9 lakh while investigating imported furniture, chandeliers and glass cutlery that were undervalued to evade customs duty.
The statue, weighing around 1,500 kg, and imported from
London, belongs to fashion designer Sandeep Khosla. DRI officials said the statue looked like that of a British army officer.
DRI, which seized the two containers on Wednesday, found that some crates containing the bust and crockery worth about Rs 4 lakh were moved out of Mumbai port by a customs clearing agent who evaded duty and took them to the Mohammed Ali Road area. The agent told DRI he was to deliver it to Khosla.
During a previous seizure of a container at Mumbai port, DRI had found 129 packages containing furniture, chandeliers and glass cutlery. Of these, 21 packages bore the names of Khosla and his partner Abu Jani.
On Thursday, DRI issued a summons to the two and asked them to appear for questioning on Friday. On Friday, Khosla visited the DRI office and was questioned for over seven hours. Jani did not visit the DRI office.
Khosla confirmed visiting the DRI office. About the seized goods, he said it was a misunderstanding, and that the goods were for Shahrukh Passi, a Delhi car showroom owner.
He also denied the 21 packages bore his or Jani’s name. “There were only two packages that bore Abu Jani’s name,” he said. Khosla added that they (he and Jani) took responsibility for three packages for which they will pay the duty.
He also denied there was any smuggling attempt, and said: “Everything of ours was purchased either by cheque or credit card”. Four Customs officials, including two superintendents and two preventive officers, were on Friday suspended for failing to bust the racket in time.
“The two containers had arrived at the Mumbai port with one of them even moving out and reaching Delhi without these officials suspecting anything,” a senior Customs official said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.