The Delhi High Court has upheld the penalty of Rs. 10 lakh imposed on Freight Forwarder Mayank Gupta involved in issuing an airway bill in a non-existing firm’s name to facilitate illegal export of ‘red sanders’.
The bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Shail Jain observed that the Freight Forwarder Mayank Gupta was involved in arranging space in airlines for export without obtaining KYC of the main exporter. He issued an airway bill in the name of non-existed M/s Sikki Auto Pvt. Ltd. He used forged documents related to export of prohibited goods.
The case arose out of a specific intelligence regarding illegal export of ‘Red Sanders’ which is stated to have been received by the Customs Department. Based on the said intelligence, certain consignments were intercepted which on examination were found to contain ‘Red Sandal Wood’ or ‘Red Sanders’.
However, the supporting documents which were filed in respect of the same had declared the goods therein as ‘household goods’.
Red Sandal Wood has been recognised as an ‘endangered’ species under the international convention CITES and without a proper valid export certificate it cannot be exported.
The baggage declaration which was filed in the name of Mr. Vipin Dua was investigated and it was found that the airway bill was booked in the name M/s Sikki Auto India Pvt. Ltd. The said name itself was allegedly a forged name. One Mr. Sarvesh Kumar who was the Customs Broker had prepared all the documentation. Mr. Ravinder Kumar of M/s Vin Global Logistics was a freight forwarder. He had provided the documents to Mr. Mayank Gupta of M/s Sky Barge Freight Pvt. Ltd. who is another freight forwarder, who then filed the airway bill in the name of the fictitious company.
The entire consignment was seized and penalties were also imposed on various other individuals who were involved in the chain of preparing the documents for exporting as also the other entities involved. The Order-in- Original was passed by the Adjudicating Authority on 25th July 2019 inter alia imposing a penalty of Rs.10 lakhs on the freight forwarder.
A penalty of Rs.10 lakh has been imposed on the Respondent under Section 114AA of the Customs Act, 1962. However, the prayer for imposition of further penalty under Section 114AA of the Customs Act, 1962 has been rejected. Hence, the appeal was filed.
The court while refusing to entertain the appeal held that the penalty under Section 114AA of the Act has been rightly not been imposed on the freight forwarder.
Case Details
Case Title: Commissioner Of Customs Export Versus Mayank Gupta
Case No.: CUSAA 159/2025 , CM APPL. 62044/2025, CM APPL. 62045/2025 & CM APPL. 62046/2025
Date: 29th September, 2025
Counsel For Appellant: Satish Aggarwala, SSC
Counsel For Respondent: None
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