Mumbai: Special CBI court convicts six in 22-year-old customs duty evasion case

In a 22-year-old case, the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court has convicted six accused booked for conspiracy, cheating, forgery for customs duty evasion under Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) scheme causing ₹4.72-crore loss to government in 1999.

In a 22-year-old case, the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court has convicted six accused booked for conspiracy, cheating, forgery for customs duty evasion under Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) scheme causing ₹4.72-crore loss to government in 1999.

For representational purposes only. (HT FILE)

As per the case filed by CBI on the complaint of customs officers, the accused in connivance with an officer of customs department, Navi Mumbai, obtained 18 DEPB scrips from Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Mumbai for duty-free import in the name of four fictitious companies by submitting forged shipping bills and forged bank certificate.

The case was registered against, M/s Kuteer Mercantile Pvt Ltd, M/s Hindustan Mercantile Pvt Ltd, M/s Sumoha Exports Pvt Ltd, M/s Impact Trading Company, M/s KMP Syntex Pvt Ltd, and Abhinav Singh, the then appraising officer of the customs department at Nhava Sheva port.

Singh had absconded and was also declared proclaimed offender by the court. He was later arrested from Agra.

The court has found six accused — Snehalata Jaiswal, Ramesh Suraj Singh, Kiran Cheulkar, Babulal Sanghavi, Suresh Kumar Jain and a firm — guilty. The key accused, Jaiswal, was sentenced to three years of imprisonment along with ₹3.80-crore fine.

Ramesh, Cheulkar and Sanghavi have been sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹4.5 lakh, while Jain for one-year imprisonment with a fine of ₹3 lakh.