What has the Bombay High Court said about the case against Mamta Kulkarni?
The Bombay High Court said on Monday that it would cancel the First Information Report (FIR) against the actor citing lack of evidence. While the court is yet to give a detailed order, it said that Kulkarni’s plea to cancel the case will be allowed. Kulkarni had appealed before the court that she had been made a “scapegoat in the drug scam”. Hearing her plea, a bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande noted that apart from allegations in the FIR, there was no evidence against her.
What was the narcotics case in which she was named as accused?
In April 2016, the Thane police raided Avon Lifesciences Ltd, a Solapur-based pharmaceutical company, and arrested at least 14 people. The police case was that the accused had planned to use ephedrine, a controlled substance that can be misused to make party drug meth, from Avon Lifesciences Limited. The ephedrine was to be diverted to Kenya where it was to be allegedly used to make meth that was to be sold in the US market.
The police named five others as wanted accused in the chargesheet including alleged drug lord Vicky Goswami, Kulkarni’s partner who was said to be the mastermind of the drug racket. As per police, Kulkarni was living with Goswami in Kenya.
What was Mamta Kulkarni’s role in the case, according to the Thane police?
The Thane police under commissioner Param Bir Singh had alleged that Kulkarni, who stayed with Goswami in Kenya, was also involved in the racket. The police said that Kulkarni had attended a key meeting of Goswami and his aides at Hotel Bliss in Kenya on January 8, 2016, where the details of how the ephedrine from Solapur was to be used were discussed.
During the first press conference held by the Thane police on April 27, 2016, they mentioned that Kulkarni was present at a meeting held at the Bliss Hotel. In a press conference on June 18, 2016, the police said that a move was underway to make Kulkarni one of the directors of Avon Lifesciences by transferring shares in her name at a cheap rate.
What evidence did Thane police provide on Mamta Kulkarni’s involvement?
The fourth and final chargesheet in the case filed against Goswami and Kulkarni did not add any evidence about the meeting or the share transfer. The police primarily relied only on the statement of a co-accused before a magistrate to prove her involvement in the case. Incidentally, after the statement of co-accused Jay Mukhi was registered before a magistrate in July 2016 that landed Kulkarni in trouble, he had made an application to retract the statement alleging it was given under duress.
What is the status of the other accused?
Soon after the case blew up, Goswami was arrested by America’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in 2017 and is in the custody of the US authorities. The other arrested accused are in Thane jail, pending trial.
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