Filmmaker Ekta Kapoor has accused customs officials of mistreating her at the Mumbai airport

Harassed?

Filmmaker Ekta Kapoor has accused customs officials of mistreating her at the Mumbai airport

TV czarina and filmmaker Ekta Kapoor was allegedly harassed by customs officials when she was returning from Bangkok. Ekta was asked to pay USD 100 fine (approximately Rs 45,000) for goods that belonged to her friends, sources say. The Mumbai Customs officials posted at the airport have conducted a series of checks on celebrities returning from abroad and there are allegations that they are going overboard with such checks. The allegation is apparently against one officer who has instructed his juniors to keep an eye on celebrities. "Ekta was traveling with four friends. The moment they spotted Ekta, they asked her to open her bag. They kept Ekta waiting while taking out all clothes from the bag. They didn't even have the courtesy to seek her permission to do so. When they failed to find any jewellery or expensive stuff, they were apparently upset," says an eye-witness. The total valuation of the shopped goods, sources said, was Rs 70,000. When After Hrs got in touch with Ekta, she said she was stopped by the customs for a baggage check. "We were four of us and as far as I know the law, we are allowed to shop for one lakh rupees. We had shopped for Rs only 70,000. I told them that we four traveled in a group, but they told me that I had to pay a fine nevertheless. I am a law abiding citizen and I paid the fine without creating a fuss," says Ekta. Her friends say while Ekta was being made to stand for an hour while the Customs officials, all the other passengers from the same flight was allowed to go. "Ekta didn't say a word when they were making a public spectacle of her by asking why there were a guy's clothes in her bag. She told them that there is a guy in her group and she had packed his clothes in because his bags didn't have space," the friend said. Ekta is also wondering how a few websites and TV channels got the news that she was carrying goods worth Rs 10 lakh when the actual amount was not even Rs 1 lakh. Meanwhile, The Customs officials, till the point of going to press, hadn't issued any official statement