Tharoor’s ex-aide held in Delhi airport on gold smuggling charges
"I do not condone any alleged wrongdoing and fully support the authorities in their efforts to take any action as may be required,” Tharoor wrote on X
A former member of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's staff and another man have been detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the Indian capital on charges of gold smuggling.
The Customs department said in a statement that a case of gold smuggling has been filed against an Indian who flew in from Bangkok on Wednesday (May 29).
Gold chain
Investigations revealed the involvement of another individual who had come to the airport to receive the passenger and apparently to assist in the alleged smuggling, the statement said.
The individual was intercepted and a heavy gold chain weighing 500 gm and valued at Rs 35.22 lakh was recovered from him, the Customs said.
The gold was handed over to him by the passenger in the arrival hall.
Airport permit
An inquiry revealed that the individual had a valid Aerodrome Entry Permit as a part of a protocol team for a MP, identified as Tharoor.
Tharoor, in Dharamshala campaigning for the Lok Sabha election, said he was shocked to hear of the incident involving a former member of his staff who still renders part-time service related to airport facilitation.
Tharoor speaks
"He is a 72-year-old retiree undergoing frequent dialysis and was retained on a part-time basis on compassionate grounds,” the MP said.
"I do not condone any alleged wrongdoing and fully support the authorities in their efforts to take any action as may be required… The law must take its own course," Tharoor wrote on X.
Commenting on the arrest, BJP leader and Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who contested against Tharoor in the Lok Sabha polls, called the CPI(M) and the Congress an "alliance of gold smugglers”.
