ED officials are currently conducting a raid at the Chennai residence of actor Dulquer Salmaan. Five officers are conducting a raid on a complaint of illegally importing luxury cars from Bhutan at the actor's Chennai house, which is located on Greenways Road. Reportedly, the office of his production banner, Wayfarer Films, is also being searched.
Previously, the Customs Department had already conducted a raid on the Charlie actor's house in Kochi. One of his Land Rover Defender cars was seized by the department, as they stated that the vehicle in question had been smuggled into India from Bhutan and was seized based on an intelligence report.
However, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the Customs Department to decide on actor-producer Dulquer Salmaan’s plea for the provisional release of his seized 2004 Land Rover Defender within a week of receiving his application.
The raid is not only happening in Dulquer's home. 7 locations across Kerala and Tamil Nadu are being searched by the Kochi Zonal Office under FEMA, 1999, in connection with the ongoing probe into the smuggling of high-end luxury vehicles and unauthorised foreign exchange dealings.
The operation raided 17 premises, including homes and businesses of stars Prithviraj, Dulquer Salmaan, and Amith Chackalacal, as well as vehicle owners, auto workshops, and traders, across multiple cities, including Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kottayam, and Coimbatore.
According to Customs findings, nearly 200 vehicles were brought into Kerala from Bhutan without paying import duties. Of these, 39 have been seized so far. The department recently sought help from the Kerala Police to trace vehicles concealed by their owners and has since shared vehicle details with police in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to aid the ongoing investigation.
A Coimbatore-based network was found using fake documents (from the Indian Army, the US Embassy, and the MEA) and fraudulent RTO registrations in states like Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh to sell vehicles at undervalued prices to high-net-worth individuals, including film personalities.