The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has arrested two persons – R S Jain and R K Jain alias Kalia – who are alleged to be a member of a gold smuggling syndicate. What makes the action interesting is the fact that R S Jain was the DRI's informant, but apparently used to double-cross the agency.

His modus operandi was to give selective intelligence, said the officials, explaining that if there was a consignment of around 12 kg of gold, he would just inform about 5 kg. In this manner, the syndicate would ingeniously route the major chunk of the contraband without being detected, the officials added.

Based on this selective intelligence, the DRI would conduct raids and seize the gold. Meanwhile, the syndicate would retain a large quantity of the precious metal and spread false information in the market, claiming that the entire consignment had been confiscated.

According to the officials, Jain got exposed in August when the DRI caught two women with 22.89 kg gold worth Rs16.91 crore. Investigation revealed that Jain was the husband of one of the women, who was part of the syndicate. Upon digging deeper, the officials said they came to know about their strategy, which they used to route the smuggled gold, while easily keeping the DRI in the dark.

“Jain finally disclosed that the syndicate would initially collect smuggled foreign-origin gold from various individuals in the market, typically amassing around 20 kg for sale to prospective buyers. However, he would deliberately share information that pertained to only 4-5 kg gold,” said the DRI. Even the buyers would not make a noise when they didn't get the consignment, fearing legal action due to the shady nature of the deals. Hence, it was a win-win situation for the syndicate.

Explaining how Jain double-crossed the DRI, the official sources shared a particular raid conducted in February. Based on his tip-off that gold smuggled into India by foreign nationals was being processed at a melting facility located at Zaveri Bazaar, a raid was conducted on February 5. During the search, 4.5 kg gold jewellery and melted gold bars worth Rs2.81 crore along with Rs80 lakh were seized. The melting facility operator had told the officials that gold and the currency belonged to some foreign women and that he was just melting the jewellery for them. After melting the gold, the plan was to sell the foreign-origin gold in the local market.

During Jain's recent interrogation, it came to the fore that during the February raid, the syndicate had set aside 12-14 kg smuggled gold and gave the tip-off about just 4 kg of gold, said the sources. Based on these new facts, the DRI has re-initiated investigation into the case.

Sources said that Jain's cheating was further corroborated by the Zaveri Bazaar melting facility operator, who is also alleged to be a syndicate member. The former confirmed the facts and the statement made by Jain, said the sources. Jain was arrested on Thursday for being an active participant in the syndicate and a primary beneficiary of the smuggled gold, said the officials, adding that Kalia was caught the next day.

Representing Jain, Advocate Falguni Sanghvi said, “My client is innocent and he has been falsely implicated in this case. Nothing has been recovered from him.”

 Modus operandi