Mumbai: The Thane police have sealed eight bank accounts — having Rs 93 lakh — of former Bollywood actress Mamta Kulkarni in connection with the Thane ephedrine racket.
The seized accounts are at Nariman Point, Parel, Dharavi, Malad in Mumbai, Kalyan and Badlapur in Thane, and Bhuj and Rajkot in Gujarat.
Last month, the Thane police mentioned Ms Kulkarni as a prime accused in the multi-crore drug haul case linked to international drug lord Vicky Goswami, believed to be her husband.
Officials have also got details and evidence about her meetings with other co-accused in the drug racket. Earlier, after checking the bank accounts of Kulkarni, officials called in her sister for questioning.
“Kulkarni has eight bank accounts in India. One of the banks in Malad has Rs 67 lakh, and the remaining Rs 26 lakh are in other banks. In the past one and half year, she has not conducted any bank transaction. Soon, her properties in India will be seized once we are able to get a court order for the same,” said a police official, on condition of anonymity.
“We are making notes of all the properties belonging to Ms Kulkarni and Goswami. According to our sources, she was involved in the conspiracy and was ready to become the managing director of her husband’s company. This is enough evidence to prove Kulkarni’s guilt in the case,” he added.
Police officials added Mamta Kulkarni’s name in the third chargesheet submitted in the Thane sessions court in the ephedrine drug racket case.
In all, there are 17 accused in the case. The arrests were made when the police seized around 18.5 tonnes of ephedrine, worth approximately Rs 2,000 crore, after raiding the premises of Avon Lifesciences Ltd in Solapur district in April. Police said ephedrine, which is a controlled drug, was allegedly being diverted from the Solapur unit of Avon Lifesciences and sent abroad after processing.
Investigators are also questioning the elder sister of Kulkarni and others who dealt with the bank payments, he said.
