Surat diamond overevaluation

The Special Investigation and Intelligence Branch (SIIB) of the Surat Customs department on July 12 arrested a father-son duo, directors of a Surat-based SEZ (Special Economic Zone) diamond trading unit, in a ₹200 crore duty evasion scam by overvaluing diamonds.

Both were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court in Surat and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

Ashish and his son Jayraj Bheda ran a diamond polishing and import-export firm and conducted their transactions online.

The SIIB Customs department inquired about the firm’s operations and scrutinised its international trading accounts.

Upon finding large-scale discrepancies in their accounts, a special investigation was launched, during which it was found that the figure of the dubious transactions was as high as ₹200 crore.

The duo was arrested for overvaluing diamonds.

Both accused were produced before the CGM Court in Surat by the Customs department, and 14 days of judicial remand were sought.

Notably, during the hearing, the accused submitted a written application through a lawyer in court. The application states that “during the rigorous questioning by the Customs department officials, we had written down all the facts that we knew, but later the SIIB Customs Department prepared the writing in their own way, but did not tell us what was written. If any note of confession has been made in those writings, then that confession will not be binding on us.”

The accused have alleged that they were coerced by the Customs department to sign some papers and statements.

Recently, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) unearthed ₹2,800 crore in transactions of Surat’s Paplaj Foreign Trade LLP with shell companies based in Surat, Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi, as well as Hong Kong, which had overvalued diamonds.