The Pune Police today arrested builder D S Kulkarni and his wife Hemanti in a case of cheating in New Delhi this morning following which they were brought here and a court sent them to seven-day police custody.
The Bombay High Court had yesterday revoked the interim protection from arrest given to Kulkarni and his wife, accused of duping over 2,500 investors of Rs 230 crore.
Kulkarni, a high-profile construction professional popularly known as DSK, and his wife were produced before special EOW judge J T Utpat late evening by the sleuths of the Economic Offences Wing of the Pune Police.
While seeking their custody for seven days, public prosecutor Pravin Chavan said Kulkarni's firm collected over Rs 1,000 crore in the form of deposits and unsecured loans, which was "systematically" diverted in "preplanned" manner.
"Police need to investigate the money trail and need the couple's custody," argued Chavan.
Kulkarni's firm had borrowed Rs 2,892 crore from various banks and the investigation officers have to find out for which projects these funds were diverted, and why, despite so much money being pumped in, the projects were not completed, the prosecutor said.
The investigators also have to recover some documents pertaining to fixed deposits accepted by the firm, he said.
The money raised through fixed deposits was diverted to six partnership firms of the DSK group, and later transferred to personal accounts of his wife and son, he said, adding, "police need to investigate where this money has gone."
Kulkarni's lawyer Shrikant Shivade said his clients have not lost the hope of recovering from the financial crisis they are in, and whether they get bail or not, "they are committed to deposit the money in the court".
Shivade, however, did not oppose the demand for police custody, but requested the court to remand the Kulkarnis in police custody for seven days instead of 10, considering their age and health.
Kulkarnis have assets three times more than the liabilities, and they have submitted their passports to the police long ago "unlike other accused" (in similar cases), the defence lawyer said.
The court then remanded Kulkarni and his wife to a police custody till February 23.
The court also allowed the defence lawyer to meet the accused for 30 minutes everyday during this period.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Pankaj Dahane, who holds additional charge of the EOW, had earlier told PTI that Kulkarni and his wife were detained in Delhi this morning.
The couple's arrest was expected after the high court refused to extend the protection granted to them.
Justice Sadhana Jadhav noted in her order that the Kulkarnis had taken the court "for granted" and that they had "not only cheated their investors, but also the court".
In November last year, Justice Jadhav had granted protection from arrest to the Kulkarnis after they assured the court that they had every intention of repaying investors, and would deposit Rs 50 crore with the court registry within a fortnight. However, no such deposit was made.
According to a complaint filed with the EOW by one of the depositors, investors put in lakhs of rupees in a deposit scheme of the DSK Developers, but neither received the interest nor the principal amount.
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