Journalist Vir Sanghvi, who on October 19 accused Delhi airport customs officials of harassment and called on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to “act” and “clean up Delhi Customs”, has now shared a detailed account of his experience after landing at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport.

‘Wintrack’s case taught babus nothing’

In an opinion piece published by NDTV, he said the incident showed that “Wintrack’s case taught babus nothing”.

“I arrived in Delhi at three in the morning on Sunday, October 19, the day before Diwali,” he wrote, before adding that guys in plainclothes stopped him and his wife and insisted that their bags be put through an X-ray scanner.

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He expressed, “This made no real difference to me. There was nothing in our bags.”

Vir Sanghvi details harrowing exchange

However, what followed, he said, was a “harrowing exchange” that he and his wife had to endure. 

“I could possibly have ended the process by telling him that I was a journalist, but I chose deliberately not to reveal this. Instead, I asked the guy if he wanted to ask me any questions since he had stopped me. He did not,” Sanghvi went on to say. 

The couple was then “rudely asked to show their passports”, apparently to make them feel “nervous” as another official had already seen the passports. “I guess the idea was to make the passenger feel nervous as he was surrounded by officials examining his documents with an air of suspicion.”

Since his bags had nothing, officials turned to his wife. “My bags were clean, to their obvious disappointment, so they fell back on telling my wife that they had spotted a phone in her bag (yes, they asked to check her handbag too). Was this a new phone purchased abroad? My wife said it was several years old and bought in India.”

‘Rude and intimidating behaviour’

The 69-year-old then asked the officers why they had stopped him and why their behaviour was so “rude and intimidating”.

“He would not reply but seemed a little nonplussed that not only had they found nothing but that I was not in the least intimidated. At this, a fourth plainclothes guy came up to me and rudely asked me to leave,” he went on to claim. 

Sanghvi then lashed out at the customs department after four officials came to deal with him and his wife, asking, “So, where was the time for them to even look for smugglers, which I assume is what they are paid to do?” 

He added, “And if I had not held my ground, what would have happened next? Should Customs officials be so arrogant, rude and hostile to passengers and treat everyone like a smuggler?”

He went on to say that every citizen is “entitled to some basic courtesy and professionalism” and that Wintrack’s case should serve as an example of how the officials should deal with the citizens. 

“Surely, after the Wintrack affair, Customs needed to learn a few lessons about dealing with passengers?”

Read about Wintrack’s case here: Explained | Wintrack’s bribe allegations put Indian ports in the dock — CBIC under fire, govt faces tough questions

Sanghvi suggested that the government should “rein in the arrogance of officials” as “harassment leads to the next step: a demand for bribes”.

‘We need to clean up Delhi customs’

On October 19, Sanghvi shared a post about the alleged harassment on X (formerly Twitter). “Coming in this morning at 3 am & seeing rude & menacing plain clothes officers harassing passengers, I have to say that the rot has reached Delhi. I will be writing about it at length, but if anyone wants my statement happy to give it. We need to clean up the Delhi customs. Heads must roll. You must act, Nirmala ji!”

He pointed out that the controversy followed a recent incident of harassment by Customs Officials in Chennai, after which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had “acted swiftly”. At the time, he expressed that Delhi Airport was an “exception”. 

“You can argue that corruption has long been a way of life in India; that municipal officials have always been crooks, and that some Customs officers have a history of supplementing their incomes with bribes (especially at Mumbai airport, though Delhi remains remarkably clean). And you wouldn’t be wrong,” he stated. 

He further said, “But this time, there is a difference. The central government has promised us a corruption-free India. In reality, the rate of growth in bribery has far outpaced the Sensex and the rate of inflation.” 

When the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) asked him to share more details for necessary action, adding that the “inconvenience is regretted”. 

“As the officers did not give their names, you will have to identify the four plainclothes people who were on duty at three am on Sunday, 19,” he responded, adding that CCTV would help.