Mallika's brother booked under FEMA, quizzed for 13 hours

He was booked under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) before being released after over 13 hours of questioning, senior customs official said.

Lamba landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Terminal at 9.30 am and was detained by customs officials when he was passing through the green channel on arrival by an Emirates flight from London via Dubai.

The questioning and recording of his statements by custom officials lasted till 10.30 pm.
Lamba is likely to be summoned for further questioning tomorrow. The currency and the dutiable goods have been confiscated from Lamba and a decision regarding the action against Lamba would be taken later, the official said.

"Preliminary investigations revealed that Lamba was carrying 13,000 Pounds and electronic and luxury items the value of which amounts to lakhs. He had not declared either the foreign currency or the items," a senior customs official said, adding further valuation of the goods is on.

This is the third such incident in the past one month. Earlier actresses Bipasha Basu and Minissha Lamba had been detained by the customs for duty evasion.

While Bipasha was let off after she paid a penalty of Rs 13,000 for carrying accessories worth Rs 70,000, Minissha, who was carrying a diamond necklace in her purse had claimed she forgot to declare the same.