Customs authorities gave a clean chit to Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai on Monday November 20, "as of now," after questioning her for over two and half hours during which she disowned a packet in her name containing Euro 23,000 (around Rs 13 lakhs).
The sender of the parcel has been identified as one Avineshwar, a Dutch national of Indian origin, the Commissioner of Customs (Import) A K Prasad told reporters in Mumbai. "He is a Dutch citizen in his thirties and we are in the process of getting more information about him," he added.
Prasad said the help of the Indian Embassy in the Netherlands and the Ministry of External Affairs will be sought for the probe. During her long questioning at the Customs Office at Mumbai International Airport -- where she appeared after taking a break from a film shoot in Jaipur -- Rai denied she knew its sender either personally or professionally.
Aishwarya had to reply in writing a total of 60 questions during the interrogation, Prasad said adding that the actress was "very tense" and had to be calmed after which she was very cooperative. During the questioning, Prasad said, Aishwarya did not recognise any of the items that were sent in the parcel by the man who has also sent a photocopy of his Dutch passport along with the parcel.
"She has told the officials that she does not know this person either professionally or personally," the actress' lawyer Girish Kulkarni, who was also present during the questioning, told the press. 'Aishwarya said she did not have to recover any dues from any such person who has sent the packet.'
Without disclosing Avineshwar's full name, Prasad said a case has been registered under the Customs Act against him for not declaring goods sent by parcel and the punishment for the offence ranges from penalty to three years imprisonment, Prasad said. According to the customs, the parcel was addressed to the residence of the actress which was not in use for the last four years and investigations are in progress if the address was being "used" by someone else.
"We have had cases earlier where such addresses have been used in connivance with Department of Posts officials and goods collected," said Prasad. "We fear that the name of a celebrity was being used to get a quick delivery of the articles without much of checking from our side," he said.
The parcel also contains two mobile phones, a CD-ROM with some information about football's governing body FIFA in it and some photographs of Avineshwar. "He is a maniac; it is difficult to know the exact purpose for it. But we will solve the case in a maximum of six months time," Prasad said.
