CHENNAI: A curious set of wait-listed railway tickets booked for carriers meant to transport the gold bullion from Chennai to jewellery manufacturers in Kolkata was among the pieces of evidence that helped the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) bust the Rs 941 crore gold diversion scam, according to the investigation reports.
In its reports in September 2024 and January 2023, DRI and Customs say that six Chennai-based jewellers procured duty-free imported gold bars from RBI-nominated agencies like banks for manufacturing gold jewellery meant for export.
However, 90% of the gold was diverted into the black market, while the rest was sent to manufacturers in Kolkata, Mumbai, Rajkot and Chennai to make imitation jewellery.
This was then mis-declared as 22-carat jewellery at Chennai Air Cargo complex and exported to Dubai and Malaysia in connivance with a set of corrupt customs officers. In total, of the 2,507 kg of gold procured, 2,170 kg was diverted, while 337.02 kg was used to manufacture 2,612 kg imitation jewellery which was exported.
DRI says that the jewel exporters, the masterminds of the scam, created fake paper trails to show that all the gold bars were sent to manufacturers. For instance, railway tickets to Kolkata were booked through an IRCTC-authorised agent for carriers who would purportedly transport the gold bars to deliver them to jewellery manufacturers there.
However, DRI’s probe found that these train tickets had a high waiting list and never got confirmed and hence got automatically cancelled. This indicated that nobody travelled to Kolkata and the gold was never delivered.
To establish this, DRI dug out call data records (CDR) and obtained tower locations, which showed that the carrier had never left Chennai, or was in different locations like Madurai during their purported train journey. This was corroborated by the masterminds during interrogation, where they revealed that tickets were arranged to show that gold was transported by its carriers.
The non-dispatch of gold bars was further corroborated by fake invoices issued by the manufacturers, who were supposed to receive the gold, to the exporters for adjustment of books, DRI said. DRI also dug out vouchers, which were issued by the manufacturers to the exporters to indicate receipt of the bars and despatch of jewellery.
But, the agency found that instead of gold or jewellery, only these paper vouchers were sent through courier. This was corroborated by the data on the weights of these cargo, probe report details. To make the imitation jewellery, the masterminds also wired money to the manufacturers to buy some gold locally, while the bullion procured from the banks was diverted, the report said.
In a few cases, the Chennai-based masterminds also facilitated the diversion of the gold bullion in Mumbai after sending it to manufacturers there, DRI found. Fake invoices would be created to show the manufacture of jewellery and replacement jewellery sent to Chennai for export, the agency added.