MUMBAI: The Directorate Revenue of Intelligence (DRI) busted a Rs 16-crore cutoms
duty evasion racket and arrested the
director of Vadodra-based
steel trading firm Honest Enterprises Pvt Ltd, Hitesh Vaghela, for his alleged involvement in the racket. He was brought to Mumbai on Tuesday.
DRI oficials are on the lookout for three suspects, including the two directors of Twenty First Century Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd, located at
JNPT.
DRI officials said Twenty First Century Iron and Steel would import cold rolled steel coils under the advance licence scheme for its defunct factory in Goa and sell the goods in the open market.
In April, the DRI recorded Vaghela’s statement wherein he admitted that his firm sold 57 consignments to Twenty First Century on high sea sale basis and arranged for their clearance and transport to godowns. “Also, Twenty First Century asked the Vadodara firm to sell goods to parties who would then pay via angadias. Vaghela was aware of these transactions,” said an DRI official. Advocate
Anand Sachwani, representing Vaghela, raised jurisdiction issue and pointed out to a magistrate’s court that it was JNPT’s case. —S Ahmed Ali
Representative Image