Thane court sentences customs staffer, rtd colleague to one-year term in graft case

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A Customs employee and a retired colleague were found guilty of corruption charges and given a one-year sentence of simple imprisonment by a special court in Thane. The court fined both Sandip Vishnu Pawar and Sadanand Babu Keer Rs 5,000 each for violating the Prevention of Corruption Act, according to a report in PTI.

The report stated that Ranjana Anacleto Nunus, a different customs worker, on the other hand, was cleared of all charges in the case.

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Reportedly, Special public prosecutor Om Prakash Chauhan told the court during the hearing that in August 2006, Pawar demanded Rs 500 from a fisherman who had applied for an annual fishing pass at the customs office in Devtalao, Uttan. The fisherman filed a complaint with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) because he was not happy, and this led to a thorough investigation and the filing of a chargesheet.

Given that the trial has been ongoing since 2007, the judge adopted a lenient stance in an order dated December 4. Even though the offence was punishable, the court chose to be more forgiving because one of the accused was retired and the other was almost done, the report added.

Earlier this year, CBI registered two separate cases against two deputy commissioners of Mumbai Customs and two clearing agents for clearing goods without payment of proper customs duty. According to a PTI report, the accused committed unfair practice as they used passports of people who lived abroad for over two years.

According to the report, the first FIR was filed against ex-deputy Dinesh Fuldiya who was attached to Mumbai Customs from December 2020 to Agust 2021. Meanwhile, another FIR was filed against Subhash Chandra who worked from August 2021 to July 2022. The two were posted at Jawaharlal Nehru Customs House (JNCH) in Nhava Sheva, Raigad.

Meanwhile, the FIRs have common co-accused--Sudhir Padekar and Ashish Kamdar, the Customs clearing agents.

Reportedly, both deputy commissioners made slew of expenses. While Fuldiya had made purchases from account of Sudhir Padekar's brother Swapnil; Chandra used 'hawala' channel to transfer money into accounts of people known to him and made the purchases.

Investigations had revealed that the imported dutiable goods under the "Transfer of Residence" provision were granted 'Out of Charge' by Dinesh Fuldiya and Subhash Chandra knowing full well that they were knowingly and dishonestly causing wrongful loss to the Government Exchequer and corresponding wrongful gain to themselves, as well as obtaining undue advantage from such custom house agents.

With PTI inputs