ED summons actor Dulquer Salmaan in luxury car smuggling probe
KOCHI: The Enforcement Directorate’s Kochi zonal office has served summons on actor‑producer Dulquer Salmaan in relation to the Customs officials’ seizure of three luxury second‑hand sports utility vehicles last month.
Customs (Preventive) Commissionerate, Kochi, had first impounded two Land Rover Defenders and a Nissan Patrol and then recovered another vehicle owned by the actor—all under “Operation Numkhor”, an investigation against costly pre-owned vehicles allegedly imported from Bhutan.
The authorities claim that Salmaan has been summoned to clarify financial transactions against the seized vehicles.
Salmaan had previously approached the Kerala High Court seeking the release of his cars. On Tuesday, the court directed him to approach the Customs Act’s adjudicating authority to seek the release of one of the impounded SUVs.
In a separate operation, the ED conducted several searches under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) on Wednesday, covering 17 premises in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Those raids—to unearth suspected unauthorised foreign exchange transactions relating to the imported vehicles—covered homes and business addresses associated with film personalities Prithviraj Sukumaran, Dulquer Salmaan, and Amit Chakkalakkal, among a few vehicle owners, workshops and traders in Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kottayam, and Coimbatore.
The current ED activity follows widespread simultaneous operations conducted by Customs (Preventive), Kochi, on September 23 at over 30 sites. During those actions Customs seized 37 high‑value used cars suspected of being smuggled from Bhutan over recent years; three more vehicles were seized in subsequent days.
An ED release stated preliminary investigation findings indicate a Coimbatore‑based syndicate that allegedly employed fake documents — such as those falsely claiming to originate from the Indian Army, the US Embassy and the MEA — and orchestrated fake RTO registrations in states like Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.
