Adani MD arrested for duty evasion, gets bail

Adani Group Managing Director Rajesh Adani has got interim bail from the Gujarat High Court after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) this morning on charges of evading customs duty.

In a late evening statement, the group said CBI had issued an arrest memo for Adani without providing any reason or detail. The court granted bail after the group’s legal counsel moved a plea for interim bail.

The statement also said that the customs department had neither served any notice nor filed any case against either the company or Adani. “Rajesh Adani was not responsible for any day-to-day business operation,” it said.

The group said its petroleum products division had made arrangements, in the normal course of business, to import certain petroleum products in 2005-06 and 2006-07 on behalf of licence/permission holders.

Earlier in the day, Harsh Bahl, the CBI spokesman, told Reuters that the agency arrested Adani for undervaluing imported naphtha and furnace oil. The customs duty evasion amounted to about Rs 80 lakh, he said.