MP Police's LOC for Mumbai couple who cleaned off Rs 174 cr ill-gotten money

Mumbai/Bhopal, June 18 (IANS) The Madhya Pradesh Police have issued a look out circular (LOC) for a Mumbai couple who allegedly masterminded a Rs 300 crore racket and have 'disappeared' from the police radar in Mumbai and Khaniyadhan in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district, official sources said here.

The MP Police teams came to Mumbai twice to nab the couple -- Ashish Kumar S. Mehta and his wife Shivani -- after their names were spilled out by a suspected drug-peddler, Nissar Zubair Khan of Mira Road (Thane), who was caught with Mephedrone worth Rs 17 lakh last fortnight.

The Mehta couple are allegedly suspected to be involved in multiple rackets, including ponzi schemes, digital currency and drug-running from their posh home in a Goregaon sky-rise in Mumbai which is now deserted and locked.

The MP Police first came to Mumbai on June 11 with a summons for the Mehtas to report to their police station for investigations on June 13. Talking to IANS, Shivpuri Superintendent of Police (SP) Raghuvansh Singh Bhadauria confirmed the reports. He said, "They (Ashish Mehta and his wife Shivani Mehta) are suspected in an alleged narcotics drug case. On the basis of a complaint under narcotics drug case, a search has been initiated to nab them for interrogation in the matter."

The Mehtas' lawyer, however, said that his clients were being framed in the case and they sought time for submitting all details to the police.

However, the duo skipped the June 13 date and an 8-member MP Police again landed in Mumbai on June 16 to trace them. The team also sought help from the Mumbai Police -- which have not registered any complaint -- to track the couple, who had apparently fled after committing the alleged frauds.

The police sources said that the couple have managed to transfer a whopping Rs 174 crore to various accounts and are suspected to have flown abroad before the LOC was issued.

Khan had told the MP Police that he was a courier for the Mehtas whose parcel he had picked up on June 6 to be delivered in Madhya Pradesh, he was given a new mobile and SIM before each delivery which would be destroyed after handing over the parcel.

The Mehtas had provided fake names, phone numbers and other details to the society where they lived, but their bank records have shown that they have cleaned out nearly Rs 174 crore from their accounts to other multiple accounts, who could now face the probe, said the officials.

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