Krunal Pandya briefly detained at Mumbai airport for carrying undisclosed gold

Mumbai: Cricketer Krunal Pandya, who was part of this year's IPL winning team Mumbai Indians, was on Thursday detained at the Mumbai International Airport by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) for allegedly being in possession of undisclosed gold and other valuables, DRI sources said.

According to DRI sources, Krunal had returned shortly after 5 pm by a flight from UAE when he was stopped at the airport by DRI personnel.

Krunal's team won its record fifth IPL title on November 10, defeating Delhi Capitals in the final match in Dubai. Apart from winning the title, the MI players bagged a lot of awards at the ceremony too.

According to reports, Krunal had purchased valuables, including gold chains, totalling to a huge amount, which was much above the permissible limits as per Indian laws.

As per rules promulgated by the Indian Government, from April 1, 2016, all male passengers coming back to India from other countries can bring gold jewellery up to 20 grams but not costing more than Rs 50,000 as a duty-free allowance. And female passengers can bring up to 40 grams of gold jewellery and the cost of which should not be more than Rs 1,00,000.

After this was brought to his notice, Krunal admitted that he was unaware of the rules, apologised and even agreed to pay the penalties on the same, a DRI source said. Krunal further assured that he would not repeat the error after which the DRI allowed him to leave, the source added.