PTI
Mumbai, Nov 20: The Customs officials have given a clean chit to Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai in the matter of a packet containing Euro 23,000 (about Rs 13 lac).
Earlier, appearing before the Customs officials, Aishwarya disowned the parcel from the Netherlands to her, saying she did not know the person who had sent it.
Taking a break from a film shoot in Jaipur, the actress appeared before the Customs officials at the airport here for over two hours and answered their questions.
"She has told the officials that she does not know this person either professionally or personally," her lawyer Girish Kulkarni, who was also present during the questioning, told PTI in Mumbai.
In a statement to the officials, Aishwarya said she did not have to recover any dues from any such person who has sent the packet, he said.
"We are unnecessarily being made a party to it.... we do not know if the man exists at all or if someone has fraudulently sent the money," the lawyer said. "Now it was upto the Customs authorities to get in touch with their counterparts in The Netherlands, gather more details on the case and revert to us," he said adding that the actress has given a statement to the officials clarifying her stand as per the law.
A large contingent of media people, including photographers, waited outside the New Customs House in south Mumbai, for the actress to arrive following a tip off, but the questioning took place at the airport itself. Later she is said to have left for Jaipur.
On November 15, 2006 Krishnaraj Rai, her father, had met Customs officials here to clarify her position on the issue.
Customs authorities had asked the actress to face the authorities to clarify her position on the parcel, containing the currency.
The parcel, sent from Rotterdam in the Netherlands carrying her name and address arrived at the Foreign Post Office here around September end. It had an electronic item as declared. Besides the currency, it also contained a top-brand shirt, a pair of binoculars, a DVD player and other electronic items.
The Euro currencies were contained in a white cover in the parcel, which was not declared.
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