Extradited from US, Rastogi to face charges of customs evasion

New Delhi, July 4: Narendra Kumar Rastogi, an alleged fraudster, was on Friday extradited from the US to face charges in a case involving customs duty evasion to the tune of Rs 54 crore while exporting scrap to various countries. Rastogi was handed over to a two-member CBI team led by a Deputy Superintendent of Police at New York after which he was brought to India. He would be produced before a designated court in Mumbai on Saturday, official sources said.

The Rastogi brothers — Ravindra Kumar Rastogi, Narendra Kumar Rastogi, Virendra Kumar Rastogi, Subhash Chand Rastogi and their cousin Rakesh Kumar Rastogi of Uday Park, New Delhi — had cheated the Indian Government to the tune of Rs 54 crore in the late eighties and mid-nineties. During investigations, it was found that during 1989 and 1992, the Rastogi brothers had obtained 40 import licences for importing zinc, zinc oxide, and copper sheet, copper foil, brass scrap etc. Thereafter, in conspiracy with customs officers posted at check posts on the Indo-Nepal border, they cheated the Government to the tune of Rs 13 crore by falsely showing fulfilment of its export obligations of around Rs 75.74 crore on the basis of forged bills of entries and other customs documents.

In the mid-nineties, the Rastogi brothers floated 14 different firms and showed exports of bicycle parts to Russia and Hong Kong. The parts, including brake shoes, brake screws, handle levers, brake button, were grossly over invoiced for the purpose of claiming undue and wrongful duty drawback in connivance with certain customs officials. Narendra was the chief executive officer of M/s Allied Deals Inc, a US-based firm, and a large number of over-invoiced consignments were shown to have been exported by their firms based in India to Allied Deals Inc, USA. These consignments were actually sent to various parties in Russia and Hong Kong.

The Rastogi brothers kept absconding in Dubai, the USA, the UK and Singapore after committing the crime. Ravindra Kumar Rastogi was traced to Dubai, Narendra Kumar Rastogi to the USA and Virendra Kumar Rastogi to the UK. Subhash Chand Rastogi, who had come to India from Singapore, was arrested from Noida in 2001.

Narendra Kumar Rastogi was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in May 2002 in connection with a major bank fraud in the US wherein he had cheated several banks to the tune of $70 crore. He pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced till June 2008.

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