Shah Rukh Khan, team stopped at Mumbai airport over luxury watches

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and five members of his team were stopped for an hour at the Mumbai airport by customs officials for not paying customs duty for six luxury watches as the payment facility was not operational in the early hours of Saturday, an official said.

The incident occurred at 12.30 am after Khan landed at the airport from Dubai in a chartered flight, the official said, and added that the payment counter at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) was not operational in the early hours.

During the screening of the baggage of Khan and his team members, officials found six expensive watches in one of the bags, he said.

The expensive watches are worth Rs 17.86 lakh as per customs' evaluation, he said.

The bag containing watches was carried by Khan's bodyguard Ravi Shankar Singh, the official said.

As the screening process was on, Khan and his team were stopped at the GAT -- a VIP terminal -- for at least an hour, he added.

After some time, Khan, his secretary Pooja Dadlani, and three other members of the team were allowed to go, he said.

As the customs duty payment counter at the GAT was not operational in the early hours, customs officers took Ravi Shankar Singh with them to Terminal -II of the airport, where Rs 6.88 lakh was paid towards customs duty for the watches, he said.

Though the challan was in the name of Ravi Shankar Singh, the duty was paid on behalf of Khan, the official said.

After the procedure to pay customs duty was over, Singh was allowed to go in the morning, he said.