ED raids premises of actors Dulquer Salmaan, Prithviraj Sukumaran in luxury car smuggling probe

The Kochi Zonal Office of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) was connected Wednesday (October 8, 2025) conducting raids nether the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) astatine 17 locations crossed Kerala and Tamil Nadu arsenic portion of an ongoing probe into the alleged smuggling of high-end pre-owned luxury vehicles and related unauthorised overseas speech transactions.

The cognition covered 17 premises, including the residences and establishments of movie stars Dulquer Salmaan, Prithviraj Sukumaran, and Amit Chakkalakkal, arsenic good arsenic definite conveyance owners, automobile workshops, and traders successful Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kottayam, and Coimbatore.

The raids travel simultaneous, day-long and Statewide operations carried retired by the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Kochi, astatine implicit 30 locations, including the homes of movie actors, connected September 23, 2025. During those raids, 37 “high-value second-hand cars” suspected to person been smuggled successful from Bhutan implicit the past fewer years were seized. Three much vehicles were seized successful the ensuing days.

“The searches were based connected inputs exposing a syndicate engaged successful the amerciable import and registration of luxury cars specified arsenic Land Cruiser, Defender, and Maserati done Indo-Bhutan/Nepal routes,” said a merchandise issued by the ED connected Wednesday.

Forged documents

Preliminary findings uncover a Coimbatore-based web utilizing forged documents, allegedly purporting to beryllium from the Indian Army, US Embassy, and Ministry of External Affairs, and fraudulent RTO (Regional Transport Office) registrations successful Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and different States. The vehicles were aboriginal sold to high-net-worth individuals, including movie personalities, astatine undervalued prices, the merchandise added.

ED enactment was initiated aft prima facie violations of Sections 3, 4, and 8 of FEMA were detected, involving unauthorised overseas speech transactions and cross-border payments done hawala channels.

Further probe is nether mode to hint the wealth trail, beneficiary network, and overseas speech movement.

During its raid, named ‘Numkhor’ (meaning ‘vehicle’ successful the Bhutanese language), Customs teams fanned retired crossed Kerala based connected a database of 150 to 200 vehicles flagged for irregularities successful the database of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. These vehicles were suspected to person been smuggled into Kerala by a Coimbatore-based racket.

Multiple vehicles belonging to Dulquer Salmaan and Amit Chakkalakkal were among those seized. While officials visited Prithviraj’s residence successful Kochi, nary conveyance was seized from the premises.

Dulquer Salmaan has since approached the Kerala High Court seeking the merchandise of his vehicles. On Tuesday, the tribunal directed him to attack the adjudicating authorization nether the Customs Act to question the merchandise of 1 of his high-end SUVs.