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Kavita Bajeli-Datt in New Delhi
The customs department has launched a probe against the director of the National Crime Records Bureau for allegedly evading duty on imports of huge consignments of nickel from Singapore.
AK Raha, the commissioner of Inland Container Depot, a customs' clearing complex, said NCRB chief Harish Kumar was virtually running a company known as Suren International registered in his wife's name.
"We have confiscated 22 containers imported from Singapore out of which four have been opened," Raha said. "All four had nickel slabs, copper scraps and tin ingots worth Rs 50 million," he added.
"We will be receiving five more containers soon, some stored at the Nava Sheva container port in Bombay," Raha said.
Raha said Kumar was importing costly metals of high standard like nickel slabs, tin ingots and copper scraps and passing off the consignment as aluminum scraps, which is cheaper and attracts less customs duty.
But an angry Harish Kumar, a senior police officer, denied the charges and said his name had been unnecessarily dragged into the controversy.
Customs officers stormed Kumar's flat at Vasant Kunj and a farmhouse in south Delhi on Tuesday. The raid began in the evening and continued till late in the night.
Raha refused to say if Kumar would be arrested.
"Investigations are on. We have recovered a few documents," he said.
Kumar, who heads a department that painstakingly tabulates all crimes committed in India, insisted that the customs officials had no idea initially whose house they were searching. Kumar earlier headed the Narcotics Control Bureau.
He said Balwant Sharma, a distant relative, was an importer. "I have nothing to do with him. But the custom officials are alleging I am involved in a racket."
Raha said Kumar concealed the weight of the containers from the customs department. "He had shown the weight of 17 containers as 193.67 metric tons. But we found it to be 323.75 metric tons," added Raha.
He said Kumar had got 79 consignments cleared in a similar fashion. "It was only after information was passed to us that we raided his house. It is difficult to check all the consignments because it takes time," said Raha.
Indo-Asian News Service
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