Baggage screening: Excuse of ignorance won’t help celebs

The high-flying B-town brigade may soon have to think twice before flaunting the favourite excuse of ignorance for duty-evasion.

This time around if they claim to be carrying borrowed jewellery for promotion, they may be in the dock not just to answer the customs officials’ questions but may just walk out of the airport to land in the Income Tax (I-T) office to clarify why they should not be rounded up for service tax evasion. While two most recent cases of Mallika Sherawat’s brother Vikram Lamba and Anushka Sharma have already been referred to the IT department, the outcome may open a Pandora’s Box for similar cases.

“The I-T department has already been intimated about these recent cases. Now  while it will now be up to them if they would also want to look into Minissha Lamba’s case,” a source told DNA on condition of anonymity.

When actors Minissha Lamba and Anushka Sharma were both returning from different award functions while they were intercepted by the customs officials at the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport for carrying undeclared diamond jewellery and other accessories, their claims sounded just the same.

They both cited names of promoters who, according to them, had given the jewellery for promotion at the award functions they had attended. But the excuse has now made them answerable to questions on the mode of payment for their promotional work.