MUMBAI: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai, arrested two directors of an import firm for their alleged involvement in the gross undervaluation of luxury furniture imports amounting to Rs 60 crore and evasion of various duties worth over Rs 20 crore. The DRI arrested Rizwan Iqbal Chunawala (49), the proprietor of Design Decode, and Sajid Hanif Jada (44), the ICE holder of Design Decode, under the Customs Act.Acting on specific intelligence, DRI officials launched an investigation into M/s Design Decode, an importer operating under Importer Exporter Code, which allegedly consistently undervalued branded luxury furniture consignments imported from overseas suppliers since September 2021. During searches conducted at multiple premises, including the operational address of M/s Design Decode at Laxmi Industrial Estate, Andheri, officers recovered incriminating documents. The recovered documents pointed towards systematic undervaluation and document manipulation aimed at evading customs duty, Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST), and Social Welfare Surcharge (SWS).Since its inception, the importer imported consignments via 392 bills of entry amounting to a declared value of Rs 24 crore, whose actual value is worth ₹60 crore, resulting in huge evasion of import duties of Rs 20 crore, including customs duty, IGST, and SWS. Chunawala admitted that M/s Design Decode was essentially a front created to import goods on behalf of Defurn Furniture Studio. He acknowledged being fully aware of the undervaluation scheme and confessed to playing an active role for personal financial gains. Jada also admitted his role in managing the warehouses where the undervalued imports were stored before delivery.The DRI revealed that since its inception, M/s Design Decode imported 392 consignments with substantially undervalued invoices. Based on re-determined valuations, the total value of the imports is estimated at ₹60 crore, against which duties amounting to approximately Rs 20 crore were evaded.