RailEnquiry

Amritsar:
Sleuths of the Excise Department today confiscated over 36 kilograms of unaccounted silver ornaments, valuing over 6 lakh, from Mathura resident Jatinder Aggarwal.Aggarwal had not informed about the merchandise at the department office at the railway station.Deputy Director, Excise and Taxation Department (Mobile Wing) Hardeep Randhawa said on a tip-off, a team of the department detained Jatinder near the Sadar police station. Randhawa said a post of the department is operational at the railway station to record the arrival of goods from outside the state. She said businessmen and traders have to inform about the arrival of goods.Jatinder arrived in Chhatisgarh Express here in the morning. The official said the ornaments were released after Jatinder deposited a penalty of about Rs 3 lakh.Jatinder neither produced the sale and purchase bill nor the electronic information collection (EIC), which is mandatory as per the provisions.

She did not rule out the possibility of the jewellery being routed through a domestic hawala system, known as angariya, which is widely used by traders in the western part of the country.

She said prima facie it appeared to be a case of tax evasion as the dealers of precious objects did not inform the department before transporting such goods to Punjab.

As per the excise and taxation laws of the state, any material above Rs 2 lakh to be transported by road, rail or by air has to be brought to the prior notice to the Excise Department through the EIC mode.