A day after customs officials seized two luxury watches from cricketer Hardik Pandya, following his return to India from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), he has issued a statement on Twitter in this regard.
While taking to the micro-blogging site on Tuesday (November 16), Pandya claimed that the luxury watches were not worth 5 crores. “Early on Monday morning, 15th November, on my arrival from Dubai, after picking up my luggage, I voluntarily went to Mumbai airport customs counter to declare the items brought by me and pay the requisite customs duty.”
He added, “Wrong perceptions have been floating around on social media regarding my declaration to customs at Mumbai airport, and I would like to clarify about what transpired. I had voluntarily declared all the items that I’d lawfully purchased from Dubai and was ready to pay whatever duties that needed to be paid.”
— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) November 16, 2021
Pandya further said, “As a matter of fact, the customs department had asked for all purchase documents which were submitted; however customs is doing the proper valuation for duty which I’ve already confirmed to pay. The cost of the watch is approximately Rs. 1.5 crore and not Rs. 5 crores as per the rumours floating around on social media,” he emphasised.
In his defence, the Indian cricketer claimed that he was a law-abiding citizen who respected all government agencies. “I’ve received all the cooperation from the Mumbai customs department and I’ve assured my full cooperation to them and will provide them with whatever legitimate documents they need to get this matter cleared. All allegations against me of crossing any legal boundaries are totally unfounded,” he concluded.
Earlier, it was reported that the customs officials found that Hardik Pandya neither had invoices for the watches nor had he declared those watches as customs items. As a consequence, the customs officials confiscated his watches. Back in 2019, when he was injured and had undergone surgery, Pandya had shared an image of himself on a hospital bed sporting a shiny watch. Social media users claimed the watch was a Patek Philippe Nautilus watch in gold. Reports claimed the model was the self-winding Rose Gold Nautilus (in 18K rose gold case) with a reference number 5980/1R and Caliber CH 28‑520 C.
