Moneycontrol
HomeCityHummer to Rolls-Royce: How Hyderabad luxury car dealer evaded customs by modifying cars in Dubai, Sri Lanka
Trending Topics

Hummer to Rolls-Royce: How Hyderabad luxury car dealer evaded customs by modifying cars in Dubai, Sri Lanka

Hyderabad's 'Car Lounge' owner was at the center of a scam that involved importing luxury vehicles from countries like the United States and Japan.

May 16, 2025 / 12:43 IST
Story continues below Advertisement

A well-known luxury car dealer from Hyderabad, Basharat Ahmed Khan, was arrested in Gujarat on Thursday by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for allegedly being involved in a massive Rs 100 crore customs duty evasion racket.

Khan is the owner of a high-end car showroom called Car Lounge, which has been operating in Hyderabad for over a decade.

Story continues below Advertisement

According to the DRI, Khan was at the center of a scam that involved importing luxury vehicles from countries like the United States and Japan. These vehicles were first sent to places like Dubai or Sri Lanka, where they were converted from left-hand drive (used in many foreign countries) to right-hand drive, which is required for Indian roads.

After these changes, the cars were brought into India using fake paperwork and undervalued invoices. This allowed Khan to avoid paying the full customs duty, in many cases, he declared the value of the cars to be almost 50 per cent less than their actual price, NDTV reported