Customs officer blows whistle on his Boss — and to his Boss

A top Customs officer has taken an unusual step to send a letter to his chairman putting on record the political pressure he is under and th...

A top Customs officer has taken an unusual step to send a letter to his chairman putting on record the political pressure he is under and the ‘‘directions’’ he received—from the chairman himself—not to arrest an industrialist who has allegedly evaded Rs 22 crore in Customs duty.

On November 28, Romesh Bhattacharji, Commissioner, Customs, at Amritsar, wrote to M K Zutshi, chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Customs, complaining that the northern India head of the Shiv Sena, Jai Bhagwan Goel, and A P Pathak, Officer on Special Duty to Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi had put pressure on him not to take action against a textile exporter Harbhajan Singh Sandhu.

According to the letter, a copy of which is with The Sunday Express, not only did Goel ask for ‘‘leniency,’’ but calls were made from his office to Bhattacharji’s wife asking her about the Customs officer’s whereabouts. Zutshi was unavailable for comment but both Goel and Pathak denied to The Sunday Express that they had put any pressure. Said Goel: ‘‘I am not a badmash. I am a social worker and belong to Ludhiana. Sandhu came to me for help and I went with him to the Commissioner’s office in Amritsar. What is wrong with that?’’ For his part, Pathak denied that he had ever called Bhattacharji.

When contacted, Bhattacharji declined to get into the details of the letter just confirming that there was such a letter and ‘‘that he had kept his seniors informed.’’

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When asked if he had got a confirmation from M K Zutshi ‘‘about not arresting Harbhajan Singh Sandhu,’’ as sought in his November 28 letter, he confirmed he had got the confirmation around 10 days ago.

As for Pathak’s claim that he had never called him up, Bhattacharji said: ‘‘I stand by the statement made by me in my letter that this gentleman spoke to me on the phone personally.’’

‘‘Whatever is happening against me is unfair,’’ Sandhu told The Sunday Express, ‘‘I have already paid Rs 14 lakh towards duty evasion. I have got no show-cause notice and arbitrary action is being taken against me.’’

According to Bhattacharji, Sandhu is accused of setting up 100% export oriented units, then importing textile goods from abroad and instead of using them for exports, selling them in the market for huge profits while showing them as sales to some fictitious companies.