Goregaon couple duped ex-MLA too!

Ashesh Kumar, Shivangi Mehta and Krishna Hegde, former MLA

The absconding Goregaon couple, Ashesh and Shivangi Mehta, who allegedly masterminded a massive home-based drug distribution racket, have now been accused of duping former MLA Krishna Hegde and his friends of Rs 55 lakh.

According to police sources, a Mumbai-based businessman Umesh Shetty, 57, had invested Rs 25 lakh via DIFM, the app of Ashesh Mehta's trading firm Bliss Consultants, on June 2. A couple of days later, he came across mid-day's reports about the couple's alleged involvement in a drug racket and the case registered them at Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh.

Shetty in his statement to the police said, "Both me and Hegde were introduced by Sudarshan Motwani who has been using Bliss Consultants for 7 to 8 years. Hegde used it for only 7 and a half months and I used it for only 1 month and we had invested Rs 55 Lakh (Hegde Rs 30 lakh and Shetty Rs 25). After submitting a withdrawal request via the app, I received a mail stating that the amount would be credited to my account within 24 hours but did not get the sum back."

Hegde told mid-day, "I personally met Special Commissioner of Police Deven Bharti and brought all the details to his attention [last month]. A case has been registered at the Amboli police station against the couple." The police have frozen Mehta's Kotak Mahindra bank account. "Due to my efforts and persistent follow-up with the police, several bank and stock-trading accounts with assets worth nearly R165 crore have been frozen," said Hegde.

The former legislator also met chief minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday and informed him about the matter, requesting that the police be instructed to issue a lookout notice and be on their guard so the couple can be caught before they flee the country.

Hegde added, "There are thousands of people whose life savings are with Mehta. People are very upset. Some people who are close to Mehta, maybe relatives and close friends, are still deceiving investors by telling them Mehta is honest so that they do not file any complaints. I have been receiving calls from many such people from India as well as abroad ever since the case was registered."

Associate, accused in case, stand by statement

After the transfer of Chief Investigating Officer Dhanendra Singh Bhadoria of Khaniyadhana police station, the responsibility of investigating the case is now with Sub-Divisional Police Officer Ajay Bhargav.

He has interrogated 39-year-old Mira Road resident Nisar Zubair Khan, 39, with court permission. The accused was caught by the Khaniyadhana police in Shivpuri on June 9 with 142 grams of Mephedrone.

Bhargav told mid-day. "Once again, we interrogated him and recorded his statement in writing as well as on video. But Khan stands by his previous statement, and he's only naming the Mehta couple as the people who gave him the drugs. "He also said he had delivered drug parcels the couple gave him to Delhi and Madhya Pradesh," he added.

June 2
Day bizman invested R25L via a trading app