High-end cars rerouted through Sri Lanka to evade Indian customs duties, Hyderabad dealer held

16 May 2025 12:06 pm Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 7 Bookmark

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The Times of India - Indian Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) investigators have arrested city-based luxury car dealership proprietor Basharat Ahmed Khan in connection with a 25 crore customs duty evasion case.

He was produced before the chief judicial magistrate's court in Ahmedabad, which remanded him in judicial custody.

Khan, who operates Car Lounge & Luxury Car Importer, had been importing cars from ports across India, including Gujarat. DRI officials from Ahmedabad arrested him in Hyderabad and later produced in a court there. He has been charged with being a key player in an elaborate import undervaluation racket involving high-end vehicles brought into India by mis-declaring their value.

Specific intelligence led DRI officers to unearth a fraudulent scheme where luxury cars were first routed through Dubai and Sri Lanka from countries like the United States and Japan.

There, they were modified from left-hand drive (LHD) to right-hand drive (RHD) before being imported to India. Using forged documents, the importers allegedly undervalued the vehicles by nearly 50%, thereby evading massive customs duties.

Khan, whose dealership Car Lounge operates from a premises opposite the Cyberabad police commissionerate in Gachibowli, was said to have imported eight such luxury cars with a cumulative duty evasion of over 7 crore.

Companies linked to Khan - CLFIVE Automotives Private Limited, BAK Carlounge Services Private Limited, and BAK Car Lounge Private Limited - are now under scrutiny. According to DRI, the fraudulent imports were conducted on behalf of end-users, who are under probe.

Comments - 7

ANNE CUNT Friday, 16 May 2025 12:15 PM

this type operations are usualyy involve Rajapaksas

13 53

Do you know? Friday, 16 May 2025 12:26 PM

I believe everyone knows why people / countries involve SL for such kind of transaction.

10 24

Rakitha W Friday, 16 May 2025 01:05 PM

Reputation of those mentioned in the first comment travel far and wide so all sorts of crooks' natural automatic selection is the land like no other.

1 28

Just a thought Friday, 16 May 2025 04:35 PM

The cars we note have been flown in by air freight may be enroute to India, after modifications from left hand to right hand drive.

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sacre blieu Saturday, 17 May 2025 07:53 AM

sounds familiar here in SL. Customs, Inland Revenue and other related organization have been complicit , not only in cars, but also other assets. Very glaring, is the recent sudden burst of property transfer/ownership and cars, including opulence life- styles by a certain section of society.

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Rasa Sunday, 18 May 2025 08:35 AM

There is also another perfectly fair explanation for choosing SL. We have the worlds biggest LHD to RHD conversion company in the world. Americans refuse to build RHD cars even for export so any most American cars going to RHD countries usually get converted here then reexported to Australia and Europe etc. The undervalue issue is another matter but the main reason for them coming here is the conversion.

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food for thought Monday, 26 May 2025 01:37 PM

We Sri Lankans do not have that kind of money or wealth in this country to surreptiously import super luxury vehicles via the Sri Lanka customs of this magnitude. These eight luxury vehicles have been imported by an Indian luxury car dealership and could end up in the hands of India's dirty rich leading Bollywood film star Sharukh Khan or India's billiomaire Mukesh Ambani.

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