MUMBAI: A special CBI court recently refused to discharge a former deputy commissioner (DC) of Customs for allegedly manipulating the Customs electronic data interface (ECI) system to enable ineligible duty drawback disbursals. Special Judge Amit V. Kharkar, while rejecting the plea, directed a wider probe into his claim that such malpractice was a routine in the department.
Duty drawback is a refund of duties paid on imported materials that would eventually be exported. If authorities detect irregularities with an exporter, they issue an alert, which then halts drawback disbursals. These can be lifted only upon written directions from the investigating agency and with the approval of the Customs commissioner. Kunal Anuj, then DC (drawback section) at Jawaharlal Nehru Customs House (JNCH) in Nhava Sheva, is facing prosecution for lifting these alerts and enabling ineligible duty drawback disbursals in exchange for hefty commission during his tenure between March 2017 and April 2018.
In his plea, Anuj claimed that over 134 similar instances of alert-lifting had occurred in the department, with only a “.” recorded as the reason in each case. Taking cognisance of this allegation, the court directed the Deputy Inspector General of CBI’s anti-corruption wing to conduct a detailed investigation into the matter, as this allegation warranted a separate inquiry into possible systemic malpractice.
The court noted that the alerts were lifted from Anuj’s Single Sign-On ID, and the IP address corresponded to his assigned system. Anuj contended that someone else could have compromised his credentials during lunch hours. Rejecting this, the court pointed out that he failed to explain how he detected the irregularities. “There is nothing on record to show that the applicant had complained that his system was compromised or hacked once alerts were lifted by using SSO-ID and the password entrusted to the applicant. It would be his responsibility,” the judge observed.
The order also said, “only because the practice of lifting of alerts was rampant, as alleged by the applicant, he cannot claim immunity.”
According to the CBI, Anuj committed fraud amounting to ₹1 crore by illegally lifting alerts placed on exporters under investigation. The accused allegedly abused his position to allow the release of frozen duty drawback amounts. In 2019, the CBI registered separate FIRs against Anuj and two other former Customs DCs – Kamleshkumar Singh and Sharad Ranjan – for allegedly helping a syndicate run a duty drawback fraud racket that caused about ₹6.5 crore loss to the government.