Raju On the Prowl – Evaders Be Warned !
Rajendrakumar Shantilal Raithatha popularly known as Raju was born in 1956. He finished up his education with LL.B degree from Ahmedabad. Raju joined the Department of Customs in 1979 as Inspector in sports quota for Volley Ball.
During his college days Raju was adjudged as the best NCC cadet in Gujarat and the best NCC cadet in Gujarat and the best turnout cadet all India. Raju was conferred with DG's Special Medal in NCC and a Para wing for being an excellent Paratrooper with five successful jumps.
During his service years Raju became a super sleuth and a good trainer. Raju has innumerable detections in customs, excise, fake currencies, arms and narcotics to his credit. These are detailed in his story that’s being published.
Raju was part of the team of officers who interrogated Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar Dawood was apprehended after he was injured by a bullet fire in an accident in 1983. Raju is a keen follower of IPL games. He has held some important positions with Saurashtra Cricket Association for two years and was co-coordinator for West Indies team.
His children are now well settled in various walks of life. His daughter is Lalit Kala Academy awardee in paintings and his son is an Industrialist.
Post retirement on superannuation in 2016 Raju lives in Ahmedabad with his wife.
The Editor Writes
Inourdays.org is proud to publish a true and a fascinating story of a Brave Heart officer from the Department of Customs at Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
One such officer is Rajendrakumar Shantilal Raithatha, popular as Raju, who put his life at risk to perform his official duties.
In order to catch the smugglers Raju not only flirted with a high risk gambit which put his life in danger but his persistence and courage ensured that not only the smuggled goods were intercepted but the men behind the smuggling of goods were also apprehended.
Raju during his service days not only displayed extraordinary acumen in collection of accurate intelligence, but also organised the search and seizure operations with care and extraordinary diligence. He also ensured that these operations culminated in apprehending the smugglers or tax evaders, seizure of goods and recovery of duty.
High point of his career was the operation in the mid seas to dig out 6064 kgs of charas by digging out the secreted drugs near Kalubhar island.
There’s so much that can be spoken about our Brave Heart Raju that it would take time extraordinary to recount all his achievements.
But all we have to do is to remember that Raju was given the High Honour of the Department for performing his duties for his Specailly Distinguished Record of Service.
LADIES and GENTLEMEN presenting the Raju Raithatha story.
Achievements of Rajendrakumar Raithatha in various fields.
The exceptional contribution which distinguishes the officer from the team the officer was part of can be gauged from the fact that the officer has an outstanding track record in collection of intelligence which eventually translated into offence cases booked against tax evaders of Customs duty, Central Excise duty, Service Tax as well as detection of Narcotics Drugs & Substances, Arms & Ammunitions and Indian Fake Currency.
37 cases involving revenue totaling Rs. 3136.14 Lakhs have been booked on specific intelligence gathered by the officer and recorded in the form of DRI-1/AE-1/Specific intelligence reports, etc. The duty recovered is of Rs. 1272.71 Lakhs.
96 cases involving revenue totaling Rs. 4245.85 Lakhs have been booked wherein prominent role has been played by the officer, which is reflected in the form of DRI-II/AE-II/appreciations. The duty recovered is of Rs. 2824.66 Lakhs.
The officer has participated in 133 offence cases involving revenue totaling Rs. 7381.99 Lakhs and seizure of the goods to the tune of Rs. 11576.28 Lakhs. The duty recovered is of Rs. 4097.37 Lakhs (excluding the absolute confiscation of the contraband goods involving 22 cases, which is approximately Rs. 11370.34 Lakhs in respect of Customs cases).
It was on account of the sole initiative and action taken by the officer that an amount of Rs. 285.55 Lakh being claimed by 15 assessees of Jetpur as Cenvat credit could be challenged and got rejected in appeal proceedings before Commissioner (A), Rajkot when the officer scrutinized the documents (challans) presented by the assessees and detected the forgery perpetrated by them in creating these documents by pinpointing the telephone numbers that were not being used at the material time by the telecom authority.
The officer has also displayed unparalleled initiative & execution in recovering Rs. 117.61 Lakhs, which were pending recovery over several years.
The officer also demonstrated outstanding legal acumen in assisting the legal counsel who represented the Department in high value litigation before Hon. Tribunal at Mumbai in the case of M/s. Tata Chemicals Ltd. Shri M. I. Shethna, Sr. Standing Counsel has gone on record appreciating the attitude and aptitude displayed by the officer.
In the trade facilitation, Federation of Ceramic Industries, Thangadh through the certificate dated 3.06.2010 has conveyed appreciation to the Commissioner, Central Excise, Bhavnagar that true and honest business community has been protected by him against unfair competition of revenue evasion.
In infrastructure development, appreciation certificate dated 07.10.2009 has been granted by the Commissioner for performance during the foundation laying ceremony. Also Officer has played active role in process of creating the infrastructure.
Comments
Raju on the prowl
A dating officer with a golden heart ! We all are proud if his life and achievement ! !
Add new comment