The Thane police have issued non-bailable warrants against the alleged international drug-lord Vicky Goswami and his partner and yesteryears Bollywood actor Mamta Kulkarni. The duo has been named an accused in the Rs 2,000 crore ephedrine drugs haul case.
District Judge H M Patwardhan issued the warrants on Tuesday. Thane police raided Avon Lifesciences in Solapur last year and seized around 18.5 tonne of ephedrine worth Rs 2,000 crore. As per the police, ephedrine was being diverted from Avon Lifesciences to a Kenya-based drug cartel headed by Goswami where it was used to make party-drug Methamphetamine.
Both are believed to be outside India. Kulkarni’s role in the narcotics racket was confirmed on the basis of statements of some of the accused in the case that she and Goswami held meetings and discussed business with some clients.
Despite all this, the former actress has denied all allegations against her, saying she is a ‘yogini’ and innocent. Mamta further added: ‘I have never engaged in any act contrary to the principles of Indian statutes and am a victim of high-handedness, crude, unprofessional and unethical conspiracy by the officers of the US’s Drug Enforcement Administration and the Thane police.’
Not only this, Mamta also wrote to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju demanding a probe against the Maharashtra Police to unearth the reasons behind dragging her name into the drugs case.
Incidentally, Goswami and Mamta were detained by Kenyan authorities in 2014 on the charge of drug trafficking. Goswami, 52, was earlier imprisoned for 25 years in the United Arab Emirates in 1997 for trafficking around 11.50 tonnes of Mandrax but was released in November 2012 on grounds of good conduct. In 2013, he married Mamta Kulkarni and the couple is reportedly based in Mombasa in Kenya.
The police have arrested more than 10 persons in the case.
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