The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Police stub out cigarettes scam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 27, 2010
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Police stub out cigarettes scam

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: An inspector of Central Excise and Customs Department and his two associates have been arrested for allegedly illegally diverting cigarettes from ITC here on Thursday.

The police seized Rs. 1.13 crore worth stolen cigarettes and a car from the accused.

Police gave names of the arrested as Inspector P. Shivakumar (45) of MTS Layout near Basaveshwaranagar, cigarette dealer P.P. Thomas (54) of Yelahanka New Town and the car driver P. Prakash (52) of Ramaiah Layout near Banasawadi.

The police said the arrested men had been stealing cigarettes from the ITC with the collusion of three more inspectors of the Central Excise and Customs Department.

The department had deputed the inspectors as vigilance officials to monitor ITC's production and sales. However, the police said, they had stolen Rs. 8.32 crore worth cigarettes from the company in the last one year, the CCB said.

Three Customs Inspectors — M. Suresh, M. Ashok and Anantha Ramadas — are still at large.

The CCB suspects the scam to be an inside job and that ITC officials are also involved. The arrested men had stashed away the cigarettes at Thomas's residence in Yelahanka New Town, retailing them to shops across the city.

Found dead

Moula (40), a mattress weaver, was found dead with head injuries near Huchappa Grounds near Bapuji Nagar here on Wednesday midnight.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka