Gold from customs department at Delhi’s IGI Airport missing, one arrested

The commissioner’s office conducted an inquiry and found that 23 cases of gold have gone missing.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a superintendent of the customs department from Sonepat in connection with theft of gold from the vaults of the department at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.

It has been alleged that close to 16,000 grammes of gold stored in its godown was found to be either missing or replaced with non-precious metal. (BLOOMBERG NEWS)

The agency had filed FIRs in a number of cases pertaining to the alleged pilferage of over 38 kilograms of gold.

CBI sources said Sanjiv Kumar, the superintendent in the customs department at Sonepat in Haryana, was arrested recently in connection with the case

An FIR was registered against the unknown officials and other unknown individuals on the basis of a complaint by the office of the commissioner of customs (vigilance).

According to the FIR, a committee was set up to probe the pilferage of gold items, which the customs department routinely seizes during checks of passengers travelling with unaccounted expensive gold.

The commissioner’s office conducted its own inquiry between January 9 and February 21 and found that 23 cases of gold have gone missing. It has alleged that close to 16,000 grammes of gold stored in its godown was found to be either missing or replaced with non-precious metal.

The committee conducted a probe to compare the quantity of gold that was seized by the department with the quantity of that currently in storage. The details were compared with those logged in the master book at the time of the seizure of gold.

In most cases, the gold in the form of bars was stored at the warehouse. However, the committee found that the bars were either missing or replaced with pieces of iron or yellowish material. In some instances, the gold was replaced with either lesser quality of gold or gold measuring far lesser than the originally seized one.

The unknown accused were booked for criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust by a public servant and other sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

(With PTI inputs)