IT officials raid locker of dryfruit store owners, find 23kg jewels

MUMBAI: The Income Tax department (investigations) on Monday searched a safe deposit locker owned by the Mewawala brothers who run a famous dry fruits store in flora fountain in south Mumbai and seized over 23 kgs of diamond studded gold ornaments whose preliminary valuation is pegged at over Rs 6 crore.

The raid comes within months after  one of the brothers, Rajesh Mewawal alias Golden Man, was intercepted by customs sleuths who recovered $140,000 and Rs2 lakh in Indian currency from him moments before he was to board a Bangkok flight. Even as the customs department is in the process of finalising his detention order under the provisions of the Control of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Act (COFEPOSA) the proposal for which is to be placed before a screening committee, the IT has made the seizure.

Confirming the IT seizure director general (investigations) SSN Murthy told DNA: “We have seized the jewellery weighing 23 kgs from a security deposit locker of a nationalised bank held by a dry fruit store owner from the flora fountain area. There are 100s of jewellery items with diamond encrustations part of which are branded jewellery while part is old jewellery which the locker holder has been unable to account for.”

Interestingly, even at the time of the customs interception Mewawala had been unable to explain how such a large quantity of foreign exchange came into his possession. A senior customs official told DNA: “Immediately after the interception of Mewawala on December 21, 2007, we had launched a search at his residence located in the plush Malabar Hill area of  Mumbai city, where we came across a large quantity (25 to 30) of functional mobile telephones that led us to suspect Mewawala is involved in either havala transactions or illegal cricket betting activity. We had forwarded details of our findings to central intelligence agencies like the IT and Enforcement Directorate during the subsequent meeting of the Regional Economic Intelligence Cell (REIC).”

 While Mewawala had claimed that one Ali had handed him the foreign currency in South Mumbai, no such person was traceable by the customs sleuths. “The customs department also refused to buy into Mewawala’s claims that he was carrying the large quantity fo foreign currency to Bankok in order to procure some imported machinery since he intended to set up a drinking water bottling plant in India. It was clearly an afterthought by Mewawala who also claimed that part of the money was the proceeds from the sale of some jewellery effected by his father,” the customs official told DNA.

He added that the fact that Mewawala is a frequent flier to foreign destinations has aroused the suspicion of the customs department about his involvement in some clandestine havala operations due to which they are seeking his preventive detention for a year under the provisions of the COFEPOSA.

Even at the time of his interception a bejewelled Mewawala flaunted a gold waist belt he was wearing on his person telling the customs sleuths that it was a one of its kind in the world.