4 months ago
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The Kochi City constabulary person registered astir apt the archetypal lawsuit involving a conveyance linked to Operation Numkhor carried retired by the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Kochi, past year.
The cognition saw the seizure of “high-value second-hand cars” suspected to person been smuggled successful from Bhutan.
The Ernakulam Central constabulary registered the lawsuit based connected a petition filed by Muhammed Yahya, 22, of Edappally, who purchased a Toyota Land Cruiser from a Delhi-based cause for ₹14 lakh successful 2024. The lawsuit has been filed nether Indian Penal Code Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing transportation of property). The accused has been identified arsenic Rohit Bedi of Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi.
Under mendacious claim
According to the First Information Report, the currency and slope transactions took spot betwixt June 22, 2024 and July 12, 2024. The conveyance was allegedly sold to the petitioner nether the mendacious assertion that it had been antecedently utilized by the Indian Embassy. The petitioner archetypal paid ₹50,000 successful cash, followed by a slope transportation of ₹4.5 lakh. Later, erstwhile the petitioner’s person went to instrumentality transportation of the vehicle, helium paid ₹5 lakh successful currency and the remaining ₹4 lakh done slope transportation connected the aforesaid day.
On September 23, 2025, successful simultaneous Statewide raids crossed much than 30 locations, including the residences of movie actors, the Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Kochi, seized 36 “high-value second-hand cars” suspected to person been smuggled successful from Bhutan. Since then, the Customs has seized an further 13 vehicles, bringing the full fig of vehicles seized to 49. Among the vehicles seized were 3 owned by histrion Dulquer Salmaan, who had approached the Kerala High Court seeking their release, and 1 belonging to histrion Amit Chakkalackal.
ED probe
The Kochi Zonal Office of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) besides launched a probe, conducting raids nether the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) astatine 17 locations crossed Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The cognition covered premises, including the residences and establishments of actors Prithviraj, Mr. Salmaan, and Mr. Chakkalackal, arsenic good arsenic different conveyance owners, car workshops, and traders successful Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kottayam, and Coimbatore.
Coimbatore-based network
Investigations revealed that a Coimbatore-based web utilized forged documents, allegedly purporting to beryllium from the Indian Army, the U.S. Embassy, and the Ministry of External Affairs, on with fraudulent RTO (Regional Transport Office) registrations successful Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and different States to smuggle vehicles from Bhutan. These vehicles were aboriginal sold to high-net-worth individuals, including movie personalities, astatine undervalued prices.
Reportedly, the smuggling of vehicles was discussed astatine the Home Secretary level talks betwixt India and Bhutan past October.
