Dulquer Salmaan, Film Stars' Houses Raided Again In Luxury Car Smuggling Case

Malayalam superstar Dulquer Salmaan's house and over a dozen locations across South India were raided by the Enforcement Directorate amid a probe into smuggling cartels illegally importing high-end luxury vehicles from Bhutan and alleged tax evasion, sources said.

The raids were conducted at 17 premises across Kerala and Tamil Nadu this morning, including the properties belonging to film stars Salmaan, Prithviraj Sukumaran, and Amith Chackalacal, besides car owners and auto workshops, and traders in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and in Ernakulam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, and Kottayam in Kerala.

The action was carried out under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) after the Customs unearthed alleged smuggling of luxury vehicles and unauthorised foreign exchange dealings. Kerala had been a focus area of the probe.

Since the last raid in September, at least 40 cars linked to the three actors have been seized, including a Nissan Patrol SUV and a Land Rover Defender belonging to Salmaan. Chackalacal's Land Rover was also seized, with customs sources suspecting a direct link between him and the smugglers.

The latest raids were based on inputs exposing a syndicate engaged in illegal import and registration of luxury cars such as Toyota Land Cruisers, Land Rovers, and Maseratis. The illegal imports were carried out through the Bhutan and Nepal routes, sources said.

A Coimbatore-based network is under probe in this regard. Preliminary findings suggest that this network used forged documents claiming to be from the Indian Army, the foreign ministry, and the US embassy, and fraudulent RTO registrations in Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and other states.

Read: New Revelation In Dulquer Salmaan's Luxury Car Tax Evasion Case

The vehicles were later sold to high-net-worth (HNI) individuals, including film stars, at undervalued prices, sources said.

This attracted FEMA violations involving unauthorised foreign exchange transactions and cross-border payments through the hawala channel, sources said, adding that a further probe is underway to trace the money trail, beneficiary network, and foreign exchange movement.

The luxury vehicle segment is often prone to illegal tax-evading practices that require rigorous inspections. Prominent car showrooms across Kerala had also been under the customs scanner, with officials emphasising that it is a systematic operation that targets both showrooms and individual importers who are suspected of tax evasion.