Customs grills Shahid Kapur

Actor Shahid Kapur, who had failed to respond to Customs department’s summons on several occasions, was brought in for questioning on Thursday evening.

Deputy Commissioner JP Singh of the Special Investigations and Intelligence Branch (SIIB) of Customs told DNA that one Deep Jaitley had imported a Land Cruiser SUV in 2004 under the Transfer of Residence (TR) scheme, which stipulated that the importer could not sell off the vehicle for two years at the least. But following inquiries, it was found that Shahid Kapur had been using it for the last two years.

An inspection revealed that the vehicle was a 1998-make, and the duty payable on it was more than what Jaitley had paid at the time of import. It was found that the importer had devalued the price of the vehicle, and he was asked to pay up the difference of Rs4 lakh.

The customs had detained the vehicle six months ago, but released it provisionally after the importer furnished a bond and a bank guarantee pending final adjudication proceedings. Shahid, who had failed to appear during the adjudication proceedings, was brought to the SIIB office at 3pm on Thursday. The statements of both Shahid and Deep, along with the clearing agents, were being recorded and corroborated till late in the night.