DRI cracks Rs 39 crore SIL racket; two held

MUMBAI, May 15: With the arrest of two persons in Mumbai on Thursday, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has unearthed a racket of sale of bogus Special Import Licences (SIL) valued at Rs 39.22 crore.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S B Dhumal today remanded the two accused, Mahendra Vallabhdas Shah and Kamlesh Mehta, in judicial custody till May 26. According to the remand application filed by the DRI, Shah had allegedly floated companies in the name of Mehta, his employee and used his name to sell these fake licences to bullion traders.

The DRI was conducting an inquiry into the allegedly bogus SILs and had sought an opinion from licensing authorities in Cochin and Hyderabad. Six of the SILs were found to be bogus.

On inquiry with the bullion importer, it was revealed that they had been sold by one Mahendra Shah. During the raid on Shah’s office on Thursday, he allegedly identified another 50 such bogus SILs worth Rs 29.59 crore.