Going beyond the alleged illegal import of actor Sushmita Sen’s Toyota Landcrusier, Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued showcause notices to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and the Customs to help the state’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) to probe the import of cars under the Transfer of Residence (TR) scheme.
Justices JN Patel and KK Tated issued the notices to assistant commissioners of Customs posted at various ports and airports and deputy director of DRI, asking them to showcause within four weeks as to why “they are not co-operating with the EOW regarding investigation carried out by them in respect of 48 vehicles imported on TR.”
Advocate general Ravi Kadam told the court that unless the authorities were issued notices it would be difficult for the EOW to accelerate its investigations.
The court was peeved by the investigating officer’s contention that in spite of correspondence to authorities they have failed to give any assistance. “We do not find that police in other states do not cooperate with the Maharashtra police. We are surprised that there is no arrangement within the country for the cooperation of police between various states,” said Patel.
The judges also noted that the investigating agency has been able to locate one of the suspects in Kerala and a team has already been sent there. However, Patel said there was no point in dispatching teams as their trips usually turned out to be futile.
While issuing the notices, the court, however, said, “The EOW should continue with the investigations and should not shirk from responsibilities by getting the court to issue notice to the DRI. We expect better performance from the Mumbai police.”
An affidavit submitted to the court by the EOW indicated that 48 vehicles, including Porsche, Volkswagen, BMW, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan and Mercedes Benz, have been imported to various ports in India and the documents of registration are already obtained from the RTO offices in Mumbai.
