Mumbai: Gold smuggler points Customs officials to jewellery store owner

A day after the Mumbai Customs caught a flier sneaking in 7 kg of gold hidden in his underwear and shoes he pointed the investigators in the direction of a jewellery store ownerRaj Vasant Jadhav told the officials that the gold was to be handed over to Gaurav Jain the owner of a jewellery store rightGauravrsquos sister Apeksha Jain an advocate with the Customs department said he was not involved in the crimeOfficials said the jewellery merchantrsquos sister is an advocate with the Customs department and her business card was also found with the accused However the advocate told midday that neither she nor her brother had any connection with the smuggling caseOn Monday the Air Intelligence Unit AIU of Mumbai Customs arrested flier Raj Vasant Jadhav who was travelling from Paris by Jet Airways He was found to be carrying seven gold bars each weighing of a kilogram He had hidden four of them in the soles of his shoes while the remaining three were stuffed in his underpantsThe total consignment was valued over Rs 16 crore During interrogation the accused said he was to hand over the gold to Gaurav Jain the owner of Arihant Jewelers at Zaveri Bazaar A body search revealed he was also carrying a visiting card belonging to Apeksha Jain an advocate who was later ascertained to be Gauravrsquos sisterldquoJadhav when investigated by the D batch of AIU was found to possess the advocatersquos visiting card He also said that one Gaurav Jain was to receive the gold consignment The officers thoroughly searched the city side of the terminal but could not find Gaurav thererdquo said a top Customs official alleging that he had evaded their attempts to summon him for questioningWhen midday contacted Apeksha Jain she confirmed that Gaurav is her brother but denied that he had any part in the crime ldquoA person cannot be present in two places at one time My brother was in the shop if anyone has any doubts they should give evidence of his presence at Terminal 2 Neither was he present at the airport nor is he absconding we have submitted a letter to the Customs departments saying that he will be present for any questioning sessions he is called forrdquoAs for her business card being found with the accused Apeksha said ldquoI am an advocate and my visiting cards are officially circulated to people at the airport How do I know why and how he had my cardrdquo Customs officials said they will continue to search for GauravldquoWe have informed the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence DRI who will help us trace the person As of now no one has been arrested apart from Jadhav as the case is under investigationrdquo said the source adding that Jadhav had also admitted this was not his first smuggling tripmidday is in possession of a copy of the remand application which reads lsquoIn his statement recorded under section 108 of Customs Act 1962 the passenger has admitted possession carriage concealment knowledge recovery and nondeclaration of the said 7 gold bars of 1 kg eachAs he was promised a payment of 300 Sterling Pounds per kg he carried the gold for some monetary benefits In his statement the passenger has named Mr Gaurav Jain owner of Arihant Jewellers Zaveri Bazar as the receiver of the gold Mr Gaurav Jain didnrsquot appear didnrsquot appear for statement even after issuing summonsrsquoFlipflopsAt first Customs Commissioner APS Suri denied they were even looking for Gaurav ldquoWe are looking for no such personrdquo he said But when he was informed that midday has access to the remand application that mentions Gaurav Jain Suri said ldquoWhy should we disclose anything we are doing We are tracing the personrdquo