Mir Ranjan Negi of 'Chak De' fame hit by corruption
Mir Ranjan Negi, former Indian hockey coach on whom 'Chak De India' (2007) was based, may be suspended as assistant commissioner of customs. Chief Commissioner of Customs Devendra Singh has written to the Central Board of Excise and Customs to suspend Negi and his colleague, Assistant Commissioner VM Ganoo, for corruption. They were earlier shifted from Mumbai's Sahar air cargo complex for supervisory failure.
India's oldest air cargo complex hit by corruption scandals
Sahar has been hit by allegations of corruption after the CBEC unearthed smuggling operations at India's oldest and biggest air cargo complex. The monitoring system is now under the scanner. Just last week, 17 officials including examiners and appraisers were suspended.
What was Negi's role?
Questions arose on Negi's involvement when a surprise CBEC raid in May found that mobile phones and accessories were being illegally moved evading customs of Rs. 26cr. The imports had been physically assessed manually and not automatically cleared electronically, hence officers were aware. Negi was in charge of examination of goods. The 11 officials transferred afterwards used to report to him.
Colleague Ganoo was involved in another case
In another case, Ganoo cleared 200 blank guns as 'toy guns'. A licence under the Arms Act is required to bring blank guns, unlike toy guns. Though Ganoo cleared them, a vigilance official objected. The shipment remained on-hold for a month, alerting the vigilance directorate.
SRK portrayed humiliated hockey player Negi in 'Chak De India'
'Chak De India' is based on Negi, former hockey player, who was removed from the team after conceding seven goals against Pakistan in the 1982 Asian Games final. Sixteen years later, he returned as women's goalkeeping coach and led the team to a win in the 1998 Asian Games. He again returned as women's goalkeeping coach and won gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
