Actress
Sushmita
Sen
today
appeared
before
a
special
court
at
Egmore
on
the
orders
of
the
Madras
High
Court
in
connection
with
the
import
of
a
luxury
car
in
alleged
violation
of
provisions
of
foreign
trade
policy.
The
high
court
had
on
July
20
stayed
the
warrant
issued
by
the
lower
court
here
against
Sen.
It
had
also
directed
her
to
appear
before
the
trial
court
without
fail
today.
The
case
was
registered
by
the
Customs
Department
and
Directorate
of
Revenue
Intelligence
after
it
found
that
the
luxury
vehicle
was
imported
by
misusing
the
provisions
of
Transfer
of
Residence
of
the
Exim
policy.
The
investigators
said
that
a
person
named
Haren
Choksey
had
sold
a
Toyota
Landcruiser,
imported
by
another
named
Vasu
Pandari
Thamala,
to
Sen.
Later,
it
was
found
that
the
car
was
imported
by
alleged
mis-declaration
of
the
chassis
number,
year
of
manufacture
and
the
value.
Though
the
car
was
a
2004
model,
it
was
declared
as
manufactured
in
1998
to
evade
customs
duties.
On
January
24,
2006,
the
DRI
had
seized
the
vehicle
under
provisions
of
the
Customs
Act,
following
which
Sen
voluntarily
deposited
Rs
20.31
lakh
as
differential
customs
duty.
The
adjudication
authority
then
slapped
a
penalty
of
Rs
20
lakh
on
Thamala
and
Rs
10
lakh
on
Choksey
in
2008.
As
the
car
was
cleared
by
Chennai
port
customs
authority,
a
case
was
registered
against
Choksey
and
Thamala
for
evasion
of
customs
duty
at
the
Egmore
economic
offences
court
here
and
Sen
was
asked
to
appear
to
provide
evidence
against
the
duo.
As
Sen
failed
to
appear
for
hearing
to
provide
evidence
in
the
court
in
June,
the
magistrate
had
issued
a
warrant
against
Sen
which
was
challenged
by
her.
According
to
the
high
court
orders,
she
appeared
before
Additional
Chief
Metropolitan
Magistrate
Zakir
Hussain,
today.
She
was
cross
examined
by
the
counsel
for
the
accused
in
the
above
case
for
more
than
an
hour.
After
that,
the
judge
adjourned
the
case
to
September
26.