The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out raids at multiple locations linked to Malayalam actors Dulquer Salmaan, Mammotty and Prithviraj Sukumaran in a major incident connected to the Bhutan car smuggling case reported by a regional media.
According to the reports, the raid began early Wednesday (October 8), included three of Dulquer’s residences and the homes of actor Amit Chakkalackal, foreign businessman Vijeesh Varghese, and several car dealers. Reports say that the operation spanned districts including Kottayam, Thrissur, Malappuram, and Kozhikode, as well as Chennai.
The officials revealed that the raids follow a Customs investigation into the illegal import of luxury cars into India through Bhutan and Nepal routes. High-end vehicles such as Land Cruisers and Defenders were allegedly brought in using forged documents and later sold to buyers, including film celebrities, at reduced prices.
The development comes a day after the Kerala High Court directed the Customs Department to reconsider releasing Dulquer Salmaan’s seized Land Rover Defender. The court instructed that if valid documents are submitted, Customs should decide on the matter within a week. It also questioned why preliminary inquiries were not conducted before the vehicles were confiscated. FEMA violations and hawala transactions under the radar
Preliminary findings suggest that a Coimbatore-based network created fake RTO registrations. These registrations were in states like Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh to legitimise the smuggled vehicles. The ED suspects that illegal foreign exchange transfers and hawala payments were used to finance these transactions. ED has also raided a property located on Greenways Road, Chennai, which is under the name of superstar Mammootty.
