Betel nut trade whistleblower slams ED summons to Mum to ‘seek info’

Nagpur: Even as the suspects involved in smuggling spurious betel nut from Indonesia and Myanmar are roaming scot free, the whistleblower, 60-year-old homeopath Dr Mehboob Chimthanawala has been summoned to Mumbai by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for ‘seeking information’.
Dr Chimthanawala, who had filed a PIL in 2016 uncovering the multi-crore betel nut smuggling, is now contemplating filing an application before the high court seeking relief from the process ED has initiated against him. The ED summons has stated that the agency wants the veteran homeopath to disclose more information about the betel nut traders, transporters and godowns of the racketeers.
Dr Mehboob had filed the PIL based on his experience as an practitioner of alternative medicine, and research conducted by his educational and research organization. “I had been observing a sudden spurt in cases of submucosal fibrosis, which is a precancerous precondition. Maximum cases of oral cancer were coming for treatment, which prompted me to file the PIL,” said Dr Chimthanawala.
The veteran homeopath said he also observed a steady rise in number of youngsters getting hooked to tobacco-based betel nut mixes like ‘kharra’ and ‘sugandhi supari’. “Betel nut is the base component for all these kharra and sugandhi suparis, which leads to irritation on the tongue and elsewhere in the mouth, which may become the root cause of cancer,” said Dr Chimthanawala, explaining why he approached the judiciary for a comprehensive intervention.
Expressing concern over being summoned to Mumbai, Dr Chimthanawala said the ED should have considered his age before asking him to be present in another city. “First of all, I had submitted every detail of my research, findings, information about the betel nut racket, the nexus between racketeers and different government agencies before the high court. ED could have easily accessed those documents as a bonafide investigation agency instead of asking me for a copy of those same documents,” said Dr Chimthanawala.
He added that his PIL was based on information he had gathered as a researcher. “ED should investigate and find out who are the transporters and where the godowns are located. How can a veteran homeopath go and dig out the latest information in 2022 again,” said Dr Chimthanawala, adding he was ready to help and cooperate with ED but requested the agency to shift his meeting venue to Nagpur.
Lawyer Raspal Singh Renu, who had filed the PIL, said the high court had already expressed displeasure over the ongoing state of affairs, and had asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to register an FIR after taking away the probe from the Directorate of Revenue intelligence (DRI). “CBI had been investigating the case after filing a FIR. We have no clue what is happening in the case. Now, ED too has started a parallel investigation,” said Renu, adding there are a number of investigations going on in betel nut like Nagpur city police, DRI, CBI, Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and now ED, but there is no conclusion or conviction in any of them.
“Even after the high court interventions, no agency seemed to have any respect for the judiciary and just followed their whims and fancies,” said Renu.