‘Mumbai police helped Goregaon couple flee’

Ashesh and Shivangi Mehta’s aniticpatory bail was rejected by the district and sessions court Shivpuri, MP, on Thursday

The Madhya Pradesh police have alleged that Mumbai police helped the Mehtas, alleged masterminds of a massive home-based drug distribution racket, escape. Mumbai-based Ashesh and Shivangi Mehta are under the scanner of MP police after one of their workers was arrested with 142 gram Mephedrone (MD) worth R17 lakh by the Khaniyadhana police of Shivpuri district, MP on June 6. The Mumbai police have said the allegation is false and completely baseless. The couple on June 20 filed anticipatory bail applications in the district and sessions court, Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh which rejected them on Thursday.

MP police allege

Dhanendra Singh Bhadoria, the investigating officer who is also in charge of the Khaniyadhana police station, Madhya Pradesh (MP) , speaking to mid-day said, "I had kept all the details and told the court that the Mumbai police did not cooperate with us at all. We did not have any women personnel to take in the female accused. The Mumbai police had said that they would cooperate and bring the accused to us. We had instructed the absconding accused to come to the police station within three days and cooperate in the investigation, but the Mumbai police helped them run away."

Ashesh and Shivangi Mehta

Barodia further added, "We placed concrete facts before the court. The first fact was that the arrested accused Nisar Khan, 39, had identified the Mehtas in the identification parade in the presence of the Mumbai police. The second point was that the mobile location of Khan and the absconding couple was the same - the Mehta's residence on the day he left Mumbai."

According to the MP police, Khan is a habitual offender, and drug supplier, and has past records and was caught three times by the Mumbai police, and is still wanted in NDPS cases registered in two different police stations including Mumbai and Thane districts.

We helped: Mumbai cops

"The allegation is false and completely baseless. The officer is lying. It is the decision of the investigation agency that came here in search of the accused to arrest him if they want. We were just a supporting agency. They asked for help and we provided it. Everything and the entire procedure has been mentioned in the station diary," said DCP Zone XII, Smita Patil.

Advocate Speak

Shailendra Samadhiya, the Mehtas' advocate, said, "As the police recovered drugs from the arrested accused, Nisar Khan, in commercial quantity, the sessions court rejected his bail application. Tomorrow, we will move the Madhya Pradesh High Court for bail to the Mehtas." Samadhiya added, "I talked to Ashesh Mehta three times on the phone. Each time he sent a message to the investors that he is going through a bad phase, and that he has been implicated in a false case as part of a conspiracy. He has not fled, he is here in India."