Six Customs officials, including one now serving in Chennai, were booked by the CBI last week in connection with 2.5 kg of seized gold that went missing from the godown at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. The accused were in charge of 2,594 grams of gold jewellery seized from various people between 2012 and 2014, and stored in the airport facility.
Chennai:
While one of the accused officers K Keshav, currently works as an assistant commissioner, Customs, in Chennai, the others include Vinod Chinnappa, assistant commissioner, Ministry of Finance (Custom and Central Excise), K B Lingaraju, Dean Rex, NJ Ravishekar, Superintendents of Central Tax, Ministry of Finance (Custom and Central Excise), SD Hiremath and others are working in Bengaluru and Mysuru.
The FIR was filed based on a complaint by joint commissioner of customs MJ Chetan after an internal probe revealed the involvement of these officials in the seizure and deposit of gold jewellery in 13 cases. The investigation was conducted by the director general of vigilance of Hyderabad unit and it revealed specific acts of omission and commission, according to the FIR. The accused officials abused their official position.
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