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Rs 15-cr duty evasion case unearthed

April 19, 2006 12:55 IST
By Monica Gupta in New Delhi

The department of revenue intelligence has detected an anti-dumping duty evasion case worth Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million) concerning imports of Chinese hand torches.

India has imposed anti-dumping duty on Chinese torches since 2003. The duty is between Rs 25 and Rs 50 a torch depending on its size.

Officials said the department had searched the premises of a Delhi-based businessman, Mahesh Agarwal, who had started a number of firms in the names of his family members.

The businessman, who has now been arrested, had in the last two years imported 6 million torches, valued at around Rs 18 crore (Rs 180 million) in the domestic market.

The torches were obtained by the businessman from his brother, who runs a firm in China.

"The businessman was importing the torches in semi-knocked down condition and selling them locally after assembling them here," a department of revenue intelligence official said. The department has confiscated torches worth Rs 1.2 crore (Rs 12 million) from the businessman's godowns.

The DRI has detected other cases of anti-dumping duty evasion, particularly in the pharma sector.

Some individual cases have already been booked.

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Monica Gupta in New Delhi
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