Mumbai: Ex-customs officer fined Rs 9 lakh by court in corruption case

MUMBAI: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Friday convicted and sentenced a 54-year-old former Customs appraising officer, accused in a corruption case, to 16 months’ imprisonment and fined him Rs 9 lakh.
Special CBI judge S U Wadgaonkar sentenced him to the period he had already spent in jail since March last year. CBI special public prosecutor Jitendra K Sharma had said Abhinav Singh alias Dr Rajiv Gupta had absconded since the offence was registered in 1999 and was arrested after 20 years last year.
Abhinav was arrested from Mathura, where he was an associate professor at a medical college, hospital and research centre. He had allegedly secured the job on the basis of forged documents. CBI said he continued to have a PAN card in his original name.
Abhinav was accused of colluding with another person and cheating government of Rs 4 crore in 1999. He confirmed fake duty entitlement pass book (DEPB) scrips against non-existing exports by abusing his official position. DEFB is an export incentive scheme. He got a car as a bribe.
On September 21, 1999, the case was registered against Abhinav, Samdarshi Jaiswal and five companies. Jaiswal later died. It was alleged that 18 scrips were obtained from the office of the joint director general of foreign trade (DGFT) in Mumbai and New Delhi in the names of four fictitious firms. CBI alleged it was done by submitting forged shipping bills and bank realisation certificates.
The investigating agency alleged that Jaiswal sold 18 scrips to various parties. It said of these, 17 were fraudulently used by the parties to import goods.