Mamta Kulkarni’s name to be in chargesheet

In a major breakthrough in the ephedrine racket in which former actress Mamta Kulkarni and her husband Vicky Goswami are allegedly involved, the Thane police is likely to submit the fourth chargesheet by July 25, with the added name of Kulkarni as an accused, said officials. Till now, the police has submitted three chargesheets in the Thane sessions court.

Thane police officers said that the fourth chargesheet will have statements of employees of Solapur Company and private security guards as well as evidence of hawala transactions having been carried out. They also said that Kulkarni’s sister’s statement would not be added in this chargesheet as it will not be used as evidence against the accused in the case.

Sources said that employees of Solapur Company had approached the police and informed them, among other things, about the work that the owner had asked them to carry out illegally. They revealed that private security guards who had been employed to look after excess production of ephedrine came to know about the owner’s illegal activities, because of which they left their jobs a few months ago and returned to their village in UP. However, when they heard that the Thane police was probing the case and had arrested a director of Solapur Company, they approached the Thane police.

Police officers also said that they had evidence against Kulkarni which clearly indicated that she was involved in the conspiracy and was ready to become the managing director of her husband’s company so that the drug business ran smoothly. They said that the evidence was sufficient to prove Kulkarni’s guilt in the case. They also said that the chargesheet was a fitting reply to Kulkarni, who had told a private news channel that the Thane police had ruined her name and dragged her into the case unnecessarily.

On April 17, the Thane police, in collaboration with the narcotics department of the Thane crime branch, had seized a huge haul of drugs worth Rs '2,000 crore from the outskirts of Thane. Among the drugs seized was 18,600 kg of ephedrine powder and pseudo-ephedrine powder. The haul is billed to be the biggest ever in the state.