India, Oct. 26 -- A special CBI court recently refused to discharge a former deputy commissioner (DC) of Customs for allegedly manipulating the Customs electronic data interface (ECI) system to enable ineligible duty drawback disbursals. Special Judge Amit V. Kharkar, while rejecting the plea, directed a wider probe into his claim that such malpractice was a routine in the department.

Duty drawback is a refund of duties paid on imported materials that would eventually be exported. If authorities detect irregularities with an exporter, they issue an alert, which then halts drawback disbursals. These can be lifted only upon written directions from the investigating agency and with the approval of the Customs commissioner. Kunal Anuj, then ...