MUMBAI: The case, involving a Mumbai-based trading firm and Delhi businessman Vikas Garg, has drawn in multiple agencies, including the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, as officials attempt to follow the money trail across India and abroad.
A Customs-Duty Scam That Spanned Borders
When officers from the Enforcement Directorate fanned out across Delhi and Mumbai this week, their target was not a single warehouse or office but what investigators believe is a years-long operation built around loopholes in the customs regime. At the center of the probe is Vikas Garg, a Delhi-based businessman and chairman of Ebix Inc’s India operations, whose premises were searched as part of a money-laundering case tied to a ₹190-crore customs-duty fraud.
According to officials, the case is rooted in an earlier Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR that alleged a broader criminal conspiracy involving forged export documents, falsified shipping records, and diverted import consignments. The scam, investigators say, relied on networks stretching from Indian ports to land borders with Nepal and Bangladesh, and all the way to business associates in the United Arab Emirates.
Forged Exports, False Trails
Investigators first turned their attention to Titan Sea & Air Service Pvt. Ltd., a Mumbai-based firm authorized to import materials duty-free under the Special Economic Zone Act. Between 2015 and 2017, however, the company allegedly rerouted large quantities of PVC resin, betel nuts, and other goods—imported duty-free from Dubai and Indonesia—into the domestic market, bypassing customs duties.
To disguise the transactions, officials say exporters forged shipping bills and affixed fake customs seals, creating paper trails that showed goods moving to Nepal and Bangladesh through land customs stations. In reality, the consignments were allegedly sold to private buyers in Delhi, including Sakshi Marketing Pvt. Ltd., and other domestic clients.
The network, the FIR claims, relied on intermediaries to fabricate transport documents and ensure the goods never left India. Among those named are members of GRC India Logistics, accused of helping generate falsified paperwork that matched the fictional export consignments.
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The Business Links: From Delhi to Dubai
What began as a customs investigation gradually expanded to include a sprawling network of individuals and companies across several jurisdictions. The CBI has named Dubai-based businessman Pradeep Kumar Mittal, linked to Al Duquq General Trading LLC and Land Star Ltd, alleging that Vikas Garg served as his associate in India.
Garg’s business interests span several listed entities including Vikas Ecotec, Vikas Lifecare, Eraaya Lifespaces, and Advika Capital—and he recently made headlines for acquiring Nasdaq-listed Ebix Inc. Investigators say this extensive corporate footprint prompted agencies to examine whether shell entities or subsidiary firms may have been used to route or disguise flows of money connected to the alleged diversion of duty-free goods.
The ED, which registered its own case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, is now attempting to track financial movements linked to the suspected fraud, including overseas transfers and domestic layering through intermediary firms.
Following the Money Trail
With searches underway across Delhi, Mumbai, and additional locations, officials say the challenge now lies in reconstructing the movement of illicit funds—believed to have been routed through shell companies set up to launder proceeds from the customs-evasion scheme.
The estimated ₹190-crore loss to the exchequer reflects not only the value of the diverted imports but also the ripple effects of a system that investigators say was built on forged government records. The alleged fraud spans multiple years, numerous jurisdictions, and several layers of documentation, forcing agencies to reconcile discrepancies across customs, logistics, and financial records.
The Enforcement Directorate’s focus, officials say, is to establish the extent to which financial flows were structured to disguise the origins of funds derived from the fraudulent diversion of goods. The searches mark the latest step in what investigators describe as a complex, multi-agency effort to unwind a network that blended legitimate trade with alleged illicit diversions—an operation that, for years, moved quietly beneath the surface of India’s import-export ecosystem.
