Two held in Punjab for illegally carrying jewellery

PATIALA - Two men have been arrested in Rajpura town of Punjab’s Patiala district for illegally carrying diamond jewellery worth about Rs.1.40 crore (Rs.14 million), police said here Sunday.

Chetan Jain of Uttar Pradesh and Chirag Bhandari of Rajasthan were arrested late Saturday during the routine checking of buses at a police check-post.

“They had not paid the excise duty and were carrying the jewellery illegally into Punjab. They had bought the jewellery from a Mumbai-based jeweller and were supposed to supply it at various shops in Patiala and Ludhiana districts,” a police official said.

“It is not clear from the bills whether they have paid the excise duty in Mumbai. We have informed the excise and taxation department officials and they have confiscated the jewellery till the completion of the investigation,” the official said.

Rajpura town is around 40 km from Chandigarh.