Mumbai: Goregaon couple points fingers at Aarey police

Ashesh and Shivangi Mehta had written a letter to the police top brass accusing personnel from the Aarey police station of demanding Rs 5 crore for settling thematter and not forwarding their file to the Economic Offences Wing EOW The couple had sent a written complaint midday has a copy in this regard to the Mumbai police commissioner and joint commissioner of the EOW demanding a fair investigationIn the letter the couple alleged that Ashesh was being framed through a wellplanned conspiracy by Denron Rea IT Trade Pvt Ltd and its office bearers an unknown person and two police personnelmdashAnil Chavan and Yogesh Nagremdashfrom Aarey police station who want to ruin his business by implicating him in a false case alleging he was trying to siphon off around R160 crore from his business account The couple demanded a fair investigation and asked that an FIR be registered against those mentioned under relevant sections of the Indian Penal CodeThe Madhya Pradesh police had come to the Mehta couplersquos house on June 11 to inquire about a drug case Aarey police officers were also present with the cops from MP The couple was taken to Aarey police station for questioning However since the Mehta couplersquos driver was not around and they didnrsquot know how to drive a car they were driven there by Chavan and Nagre in Asheshrsquos MercedesThe letter states that on 12 June Ashesh was in his office when he got a call from Chavan asking him to meet in person ldquoMy wife Shivangi and I met them Chavan and Nagre around 1pm Nagre told me that they had gone through my business profile and it seems that I do not have the requisite SEBI registration despite holding a big portfolio of clients I explained that the nature of my business may not require SEBI registration but nevertheless it is a curable inconsistencyrdquo the letter statesAlso read Maharashtra 40 days after death no arrest in Nitin Desai suicide caseAccording to the letter the cops then called one Rahul Joshi from cyber security who said that he could help get an NBFC licence ldquoThey then demanded R5 crore and said that if I didnrsquot pay they would forward my file to the EOW and destroy my business and reputation and that I would face dire consequencesrdquo Ashesh was allegedly given me time till 6 pm on that day and told that he would receive bank account details where the money needed to be transferred He has also alleged that the couple received multiple WhatsApp calls from Chavan in the evening but they ignored themldquoOn 13 June around 730 pm I got a call from Dharmendra Singh Bhadoriamdasha police officer from Shivpuri police station in MP asking me to visit for further investigation At the time I told him that I should check with my lawyer for further advice and then got back to himrdquo the letter readsThe Mehtas further stated that on June 23 they were informed via WhatsApp about an order dated June 15 2023 passed by the Khed district judge in an execution petition to Kotak Mahindra bank by Denron Rea for an arbitration interim award to be transferred to the account of the latterAccording to the letter the Mehtas had no business transactions or arbitration agreement with Denron ldquoWe were taken by shock by the order and on inspection of the court record it was seen that our signatures had been forged on the affidavit of consent given in the said arbitration execution proceedings Someone had even represented us and forged our signatures on the vakaltnamardquo it statesThe Mehtas alleged that it seemed to be part of a larger conspiracy to make them engage in fake criminal proceedings of drug cases to surreptitiously siphon amounts from Asheshrsquos bank accounts ldquoIt requires serious investigation as the proceedings are clearly bogus lodged by forging our signaturesrdquo the letter says Meanwhile Chavan told midday that he and Nagre had accompanied the MP police to the Mehtarsquos home on June 11 ldquoThe next day Mehta called me Nagre and I went to meet him at his office where he informed me about his business He also said that many ministers and officials have invested with him and earn 510 per cent monthly profits on their investments There were CCTV cameras where we met outside his office His allegations are falserdquo Chavan saidAccording to Nagre after being questioned by the MP police Mehta took their mobile numbers and called the next day asking to meet in person ldquoWe spoke to him while having tea at the circle outside his office He told us about his business and the application through which he was running it We went to Mehtarsquos house only to support Madhya Pradesh police nothing else His accusation is false and baselessrdquo Nagre saidSenior Inspector Jagdeesh Deshmukh of Aarey police said the investigation is underwayMeanwhile the Mehtasrsquo lawyer said his clients had filed a complaint in this regard with the relevant authorities but no action has been taken to date ldquoEven the EOW has not investigated the allegations made in my clientrsquos complaint In fact there is enough material to show that my client is a victim of an orchestrated conspiracy by Denron and people operating at their behest If the EOW conducts a fair probe it is likely that no case under the MPID ACT will be made out against my clientsrdquoJune 11Day Madhya Pradesh cops questioned the MehtasJune 12Day Aarey cops allegedly made cash demand