The Indian Express has a copy of the FIR where several IPC sections have been invoked against Khan, advocates Merchant and Gokhale and the API Sutar, who was posted at Agripada police station when the alleged crime is said to have taken place. (Representational)

Mumbai Police Thursday registered an FIR on charges of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy against four persons, including two lawyers and a police officer, for allegedly forging a police notice to illegally access bank statements of a person.

The complainant, Irphan Mogul, who is separated from wife Shaista Khan, alleged that the latter along with her lawyers Rizwan Merchant and Gayatri Gokhale, and Assistant Police Inspector (API) Vilas Sutar used forged a police notice to get his bank statement, which was then submitted in the Bombay High Court. In the maintenance plea, Mogul said, the family court had ruled in his favour last year after which Khan had approached the high court that is currently hearing the matter.

The Indian Express has a copy of the FIR where several IPC sections have been invoked against Khan, advocates Merchant and Gokhale and the API Sutar, who was posted at Agripada police station when the alleged crime is said to have taken place.

Mogul told The Indian Express that on February 28, he received evidence submitted by Khan through her lawyers before the Bombay HC on the ground that Mogul had suppressed some information to bolster her maintenance claim.

The evidence was a 200-page bank statement of a current account the Mogul family held at a private bank in Bandra.

Mogul then approached the local branch of the bank to enquire how his private details could be handed out. Mogul is associated with Infinity cars at Worli, while his father runs a garage and has high-profile clients, including Bollywood A-listers and international cricketers.

“Apart from compromising my family’s security, the bank statements also had sensitive information about my father’s business clients,” Mogul said.

The bank informed him that a police officer had come to their Fort branch in August 2019 and sought information of his bank account in connection with a fraud case registered against him by one Anwar Abbas Shaikh, an Agripada resident.

“I was shocked. I took a copy of the notice that the officer had provided under section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code — a summons to produce a document — and a photocopy of the officer API Vilas Sutar attached to Agripada police station,” Mogul said.

On checking with the Agripada police, Mogul found that there was no such case registered against him, the notice was forged and there was no one by the name of Anwar Abbas Shaikh. “A senior officer, however, identified the API Sutar and said that he had been transferred to local arms from Agripada police last year,” Mogul said. Later, when Sutar was called up by senior officers, he said he was in his village on sick leave.

Last week, Mogul met the Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh and apprised him of the issue and the fact that no FIR had been registered in the case. Following the commissioner’s intervention, an FIR was registered at Azad Maidan police station on Thursday.

Assistant Police Inspector S Mulani confirmed an FIR was registered but refused to say anything else. So far, no arrests have been made in the case as yet.

When contacted, lawyer Rizwan Merchant, speaking on behalf of himself and his junior Gayatri Gokhale, said, “We as the lawyers of Shaista are not in any way concerned in the procurement of the bank statements from the bank. We were engaged in filing an appeal in the High Court, against the order of family court judge. The bank statements of Irphan Moghul were produced by our client for being filed with the appeal in the high court, on grounds of suppression before family court. The names of lawyers are being deliberately dragged in to pressure us to withdraw from the case.”

He further added, “On the contrary, a strong case of giving false evidence on oath has been made out against Mogul, which we are under instructions from our client to pursue in the high court and family court. Expecting this Irphan Moghul apparently has chosen this route to pressure our client from giving up her claim.”

Khan refused to comment on the issue. Sutar could not be contacted for comment as his mobile number was switched off and his current mobile number was not available.