Voluntarily went to airport customs counter, says Hardik Pandya giving justification on his lawfully purchased watch

The reports on Tuesday morning suggested that Hardik Pandya's two watches worth around 5 crores were detained by customs at Mumbai airport. Pandya allegedly had not declared the two watches nor did he have any invoice for the same.

Soon after the this, the 28-year-old took to Twitter and issued an statement to clear the air around his watch which according to him is not worth Rs 5 crore. The Mumbai Indians star has also stated that he is a law abiding citizen and voluntarily walked to the Mumbai airport customs counter and declared the items brought by him from the UAE. 

Pandya also quashed out the reports that he was not carrying the bill of the items with him, adding that he has confirmed to the officials to pay the requisite customs duty. 

“I voluntarily went to Mumbai airport customs counter to declare the items brought by me and pay the requisite customs duty. Wrong perceptions have been floating around on social media regarding my declaration to customs at Mumbai airport, and I would like to clarify about what transpired,” read a part of Pandya's statement.

Last year, his brother and cricketer Krunal Pandya was detained at the Mumbai airport for not declaring as many as four luxury watches to Customs. 

On the cricket front, Hardik Pandya has been dropped from India's T20I squad for New Zealand series which kicks off in Japur from November 17. The Gujarat-born failed to impress at the T20 World Cup 2021 despite getting a alot of support from the management and former India T20I captain Virat Kohli.