Malayalam stars Dulquer Salmaan and Prithviraj Sukumaran’s houses were raided on Tuesday as part of Operation Numkhor by the Customs Preventive wing. The raids were carried out in various locations across Kerala to track down illegal import of vehicles from Bhutan. Here’s what happened.

Dulquer Salmaan, Prithviraj Sukumaran’s houses raided by Customs

PTI reported that the Customs department is conducting raids across Kerala to track down vehicles brought from Bhutan to India through fake registrations to evade tax. The officials confirmed to the news agency that Dulquer and Prithviraj‘s houses were raided as part of the operation. When asked about the raids at their residences, an official at the Customs Preventive Commissionerate reportedly said that ‘documents of their vehicles are being examined.’

In Bhutanese, Numkhor means vehicle, and the department is conducting raids in places like Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Malappuram. There are around 15 such violations, they said. OnManorama reported that the department is also investigating vehicles bought by actor Amit Chakkalackal in the case. The department suspects that more than 100 vehicles, including Land Rovers, Land Cruisers and Prados, were smuggled into Kerala and were purchased by Malayalam actors.

Dulquer and Prithviraj have yet to address the press or release a statement about the same.

Recent work

Dulquer and Prithviraj both delivered the highest-grossing Malayalam films this year with Lokah: Chapter 1 – Chandra and L2 Empuraan. L2 Empuraan, starring Mohanlal, is a sequel to the 2019 hit film Lucifer. It is directed by Prithviraj, and it made ₹265 crore worldwide in its lifetime when it was released in March this year. Dulquer produced Dominic Arun’s superhero film Lokah, starring Kalyani Priyadarshan and Naslen. It made ₹275 crore worldwide and is running in theatres after its release on 28 August.