India all-rounder Hardik Pandya on Tuesday refuted reports of his two luxury watches worth Rs 5 crore being seized by Mumbai airport customs as he had failed to produce bills and said that he had voluntarily went to the customs to declare the items brought by him and pay the requisite customs duty.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Hardik also said that the cost of the watch is approximately Rs 1.5 crore and not Rs. 5 crore as claimed by the media and also said that all purchase related documents were submitted to the customs department.
“Early on Monday morning, 15th November, on my arrival from Dubai, after picking up my luggage, I voluntarily went to Mumbai airport customs counter to declare the items brought by me and pay the requisite customs duty,” Hardik said in a statement.
“I had voluntarily declared all the items that I’d lawfully purchased from Dubai and was ready to pay whatever duties that needed to be paid. As a matter of fact, the customs department had asked for all purchase documents which were submitted; however customs is doing proper valuation for duty which I’ve already confirmed to pay,” he added.
The all-rounder also said that the cost of the watch is approximately Rs 1.5 crore and not Rs. 5 crore as per the rumours floating on social media platforms.
“I’m a law-abiding citizen of the country and I respect all government agencies,” he said adding that he has received all the cooperation from the Mumbai customs department and he has assured his full cooperation to them and will provide them with whatever legitimate documents they need to get the matter cleared.
“All allegations against me of crossing any legal boundaries are totally unfounded,” Pandya added.
Significantly, the incident happened when Hardik was returning from Dubai after participating in the just concluded T20 World Cup 2021 where the Virat Kohli-led India were knocked out of the showpiece event T20 World Cup after facing two defeats in their opening two games against Pakistan and New Zealand respectively.
Hardik’s brother Krunal Pandya was also intercepted at the Mumbai International Airport over suspicion of being in possession of undisclosed gold and other valuables in November last year.
Krunal was detained on arrival from Dubai, where he had for gone participating in the IPL 2020. As per reports, Krunal was carrying about three-four watches of high-end brands.
After arriving to Mumbai by a chartered commercial Indigo aircraft from Dubai, Krunal was detained by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials at the airport for possession of undisclosed high-end watches and gold.