DRI arrests man in ₹50 crore duty drawback fraud

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials on Friday arrested a Navi Mumbai resident in connection with a duty drawback fraud that caused a loss of ₹50

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials on Friday arrested a Navi Mumbai resident in connection with a duty drawback fraud that caused a loss of ₹50 crore to the government.

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The arrested accused, Sunil Kalgutkar, a resident of Seawoods, Navi Mumbai, is a member of a syndicate which procures cheap carpets and garments from different people and shows purchase through fake bills by the overvaluation of the same, to get more drawbacks, said a DRI officer. Based on specific intelligence, DRI Mumbai zone officials had called Kalgutkar for questioning on Friday. “During questioning, Kalgutkar admitted that he along with other members of the syndicate overvalued the export consignments of carpets and garments, and fraudulently availed the drawback more than ₹50 crore,” a DRI source said.

Duty drawback is the rebate of duty chargeable on any imported material used in the manufacture of goods exported from India.

Source added that the accused was also involved in the distribution of drawback among all other members of the syndicate and also interacted with the CHA (Customs House Agent) and shipping agents. He had used around 20 import-export code (IECs) to export overvalued goods and availed drawback on the same.

DRI probe has also revealed that the accused was previously arrested in red sander smuggling case in 2014. Kalgutkar was produced in a city court on Friday.