The Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) on Wednesday arrested Arun Joshi, group chairman of Raj Group of Companies and brother of “gutkha baron” Jagdish M Joshi, for alleged excise duty evasion to the tune of Rs 12 crore. He was produced in court on Thursday and remanded in judicial custody until March 19.

The remand application submitted to the court by the DGCEI alleged that Joshi was “the key person who has meticulously planned evasion of central excise duty” by procuring unaccounted raw materials for manufacture and sale of the ‘Goa’ brand of gutkha without payment of duty. Joshi was arrested from his residence at Hari Niwas Circle in Thane (West).

According to the DGCEI, acting on specific information, its officers searched the office of the Raj Group of Companies in Thane (West) on February 17 and subsequently offices of three transporters in Bhiwandi. “These searches have resulted in the seizure of records maintained by the transporters, incriminating in nature, indicating transportation of clandestinely removed ‘Goa’ brand of gutkha from Jodhpur and Delhi by way of misdeclaration,” the DGCEI said.

Evidence collected from the Raj Group of Companies’ office include private documents in the form of handwritten loose sheets. These documents primarily relate to the purchase of unaccounted raw materials like tobacco, kimam, supari, perfumery items, katha etc. from October 2007 to February 15 for clandestine manufacture of gutkha, it said.

The raw materials were purchased for three franchisee units manufacturing ‘Goa Gutkha’ for sale in Maharashtra and the transactions were in excess of Rs 25 crore, it added.

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