A 39-year-old Managing Director has been arrested by the excise department for allegedly evading duties to the tune of Rs 5 crores. The amount is expected to grow manifold upon interrogation of the accused, said senior officials. The accused, identified as Pankaj Goyal, was arrested on Sunday and sent for judicial custody till August 7, said sources.

"Goyal has manufacturing units in Meerut and Rourkee where he would produce ayurvedic products such as panchgani pachak and amla juice and sell them all over north and south India. He had one unit in Rourkee and three in Meerut. Two of these units in Meerut were unregistered with the Excise department and a raid was conducted around 9pm on Friday where we seized some products.

Goyal's confession has confirmed that he would manufacture goods in Meerut but then place labels on them that said that these products had been produced in Rourkee, where there is some area-based exemption. Goyal was arrested at 3am on Sunday and produced in court on Sunday afternoon around 3pm," said a senior official under the condition of anonymity.

Goyal is also the Director of an engineering college in Meerut and has an annual turnover of roughly Rs 80 crores from his various manufacturing units, said officials.