Cops seek making Mamta Kulkarni, Vicky POs in drug haul case

The Maharashtra police today moved a city court to get former Bollywood actor Mamta Kulkarni and her associate Vicky Goswami declared proclaimed offenders in a drug haul case.
Special public prosecutor Shishir Hirey told the court of judge H M Patwardhan that the investigation team has exhausted all its options and even served the warrant on the accused in ephedrine haul case, but they continue to evade arrest.
"Now the only remedy left was proclamation from the court," said Hirey.
The judge, who heard the plea, posted the matter for giving its order a few days later.
A senior police officer associated with the case said once the proclamation orders are issued, police would take further steps in consultation with other agencies.

In a related development, Thane police also sought the court's order to destroy the seized goods presently lying in the Avon Lifesciences Ltd in Solapur. The seized goods comprised 3,200 kgs of ephedrine and two tonnes of other chemicals.

One of the directors of the company, Manoj Jain, who is also the main accused in the scam and who had stated in the past that the seized goods were of no use and had no commercial value, has taken u-turn and now says that the goods are useful and can be used for medicinal purposes, Hirey told the court.
In its submission, the prosecution agency said in the first place the FDA had cancelled the licence issued to the company and secondly, the police was investing manpower to guard the seized goods, which had no value.

The agency said it would follow the Supreme Court norms to destroy the seized drugs.
The court reserved its order on this plea too.
Thane police had 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.
The police have arrested more than a dozen people in the case.