MUMBAI: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized diamond-studded gold jewellery worth Rs 16 crore that nine people had bought from businesswoman VihariSheth, who had been caught while trying to smuggle in Rs 2.35 crorejewellery in her innerwear in August 31, 2013.
Vihari, partner of Vihari Jewels Pte Ltd, Singapore, was arrested on her arrival at the Mumbai airport. She was in jail for 58 days before being released by the Bombay HC. She had smuggled in the seized jewellery prior to her arrest, and sold them to various buyers, DRI’s show-cause notice said. The agency had issued a show-cause notice to all the buyers, Vihari and her uncle Jiten Sheth, who runs Vihari Jewels at a 5-star hotel in Santacruz.
An earlier show-cause issued to Vihari and Jiten had said that she made 32 visits to Mumbai between April 2011 and June 2013 prior to her arrest and evidence showed that she was “in the habit of smuggling gold jewellery from Singapore”. Vihari has been employed as a conduit by her family in India and Singapore to smuggle in jewellery and sell them through their family showroom in Mumbai, the notice had said.
A diary recovered from Vihari had details of the jewellery sold to various parties. The electronic devices she was carrying had images of the jewellery along with sale invoices. The buyers of the smuggled jewellery have been issued show-cause notices seeking to why the jewellery should not be confiscated. “The present owners of these ornaments also do not have any evidence or proof of licit import of these articles,” the notice said.
Vihari discussed the sale of jewellery with prospective customers and on confirmation of orders, the sale was channelised through Vihari Jewels. Jiten fudged records to show as if the jewellery sold was made by them. Vihari was paid 2% commission on the profit earned.
