MUMBAI: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted a racket that was allegedly involved in smuggling of at least 700 kg of foreign-marked gold bars worth over Rs 200 crore into the country in the last one-and- half years, said official sources.
The agency has arrested three persons, including Mumbai-based gold trader Mithesh Jain, in connection with the gold smuggling case.
All the three accused have been remanded in judicial custody till August 19. According to the DRI, on August 5, the investigators caught two passengers — Suresh Rajpurohit and Natwar Chawda — travelling in a train from Kolkata to Mumbai with 12-kg smuggled gold worth
Rs 3.5 crore at Igatpuri railway station. “The gold was concealed in a sleeveless jacket made of canvas cloth, having six pockets,” said sources. A subsequent probe found that the two carriers worked for Jain, owner of Hidant Creations, a firm based out of Zaveri Bazaar in South Mumbai.
“Both the carriers have admitted to having travelled around 40 times to Kolkata for similar reason, each time carrying seven-eight kg gold bars which they had been handing over to Mithesh Jain. Jain has also admitted to it and also to having received around 700 kg foreign-marked gold bars using this modus operandi,” said an official.
India’s current account deficit — the excess of imports over exports — shot up to as high as 4.9 per cent of GDP in June 2013 as Indians imported about 400 tonne gold. This forced the government to clamp down on gold imports.
