Consider actor Dulquer Salmaan's plea for vehicle release in one week: Kerala HC to Customs

Kochi, Oct 7 (PTI) The Kerala High Court on Tuesday allowed actor Dulquer Salmaan to file an application for the provisional release of his vehicle seized by the Customs Preventive Department and directed the agency to consider it within one week if such a plea is filed.

The direction was issued by Justice Ziyad Rahman A A while hearing the actor’s petition seeking the release of his vehicle — a 2004 Land Rover Defender — seized by the agency as part of its operation to identify and confiscate luxury cars smuggled into India from Bhutan.

According to Dulquer, the vehicle was shipped by the International Committee of the Red Cross to the ICRC Regional Delegation in New Delhi.

In his petition, the actor stated that he was under the bona fide belief that the vehicle had valid ownership and registration with the Motor Vehicle Authority, and there was nothing to make him suspect its validity.

The plea also stated that the vehicle was purchased from Aarpee Promotors Pvt Ltd, which in turn had bought it from Habeeb Mohammed, in whose name it was registered.

The actor claimed that customs officials refused to examine the vehicle’s documents handed over to them and carried out the seizure in a “hasty and arbitrary fashion.” Customs officials conducted raids at around 30 locations across Kerala on September 23, including the homes of actors Prithviraj Sukumaran, Dulquer Salmaan, and Amit Chakkalackal, seizing 36 high-end luxury cars illegally brought from Bhutan with forged documents.

The raids, part of ‘Operation Numkhor’, revealed that some of these vehicles were also used to smuggle gold and drugs. The initial probe uncovered tax evasion, money laundering, and “possible links to terrorist funding.” PTI HMP SSK HMP SSK ROH