D S Kulkarni and his wife Hemanti at the Shivajinagar court in Pune on Saturday. They were brought to the city by a team from the EOW, Crime Branch of Pune City Police. (Express Photo by Sandip Daundkar)
Real estate developer Deepak Sakharam Kulkarni alias DSK and his wife Hemanti were arrested from a hotel in Delhi in the early hours of Saturday by a team from Pune City Police’s Crime Branch. The arrest comes a day after the Bombay High Court vacated the interim relief from arrest granted to the beleaguered developer, who faces charges of cheating thousands of investors of the DSK Group. The couple were brought to Pune the same day and produced before Special Judge J T Utpat at the Shivajinagar court, which remanded them in police custody till February 23.
On Friday, soon after the HC vacated the interim relief granted to DSK and Hemanti, search teams were formed by the Crime Branch to trace the couple. A team of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch nabbed Kulkanri and his wife from a hotel in Delhi around 5 am, and brought them to Pune.
Around 6.30 pm on Saturday, a team led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Nilesh More produced DSK and his wife before the Shivajinagar court. Special Public Prosecutor Pravin Chavan sought 10 days’ police custody for the couple, arguing that the offence committed by Kulkarni and his wife was serious. The prosecution pointed out that many people had invested their hard-earned money in the lucrative housing schemes offered by the DSK Group, but the company had failed to hand over the houses. It also said that Kulkarni had set up seven companies and taken loans of about Rs 1,153 crore.
“Custody of the accused is required for probing details of their bank transactions, to know whether this money was diverted. Documents pertaining to the procurement of loans from various banks need to be looked into,” said Chavan.
Defence lawyer Shrikant Shivade, on the other hand, argued that Kulkarni had already agreed to return the pending money to investors, but this couldn’t be done if he was lodged in jail. Shivade assured the court that Kulkarni and his wife would cooperate fully with the investigation. “DSK had survived a major accident a few years earlier. He is suffering from various illnesses… he should not be kept in police custody for too much time,” said Shivade.
The defence lawyer also told the court that Hemanti should not be kept at the Faraskhana police station’s lock-up, citing as a reason, among others, that women arrested from red light areas are kept there.
After hearing arguments from both sides, Special Judge Utpat passed an order remanding Kulkarni and Hemanti in police custody for seven days. The judge also allowed provision of medical facilities in police custody, as well as meetings with lawyers, to DSK. Kulkarni and his wife Hemanti have been booked in multiple cases in Pune and are accused of cheating over 2,500 investors to the tune of Rs 230 crore.
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