Crime branch to probe socialite case

MUMBAI: Even as the Khar police’s internal report states that the theft allegations made by socialite Poonam Bhagat against her husband industrialist Jaidev Shroff could not be proved, her lawyer told HT on Monday the allegations are now being probed by the crime branch and not the Khar police.

The Khar police began a probe into the allegations after Poonam had, on June 22, submitted a written complaint against Shroff to the Khar police stating that he had stolen her valuables worth Rs150 crore. However, an FIR was registered only on July 29.

“We have not filed a chargesheet. It is an internal report we prepared based on her written complaint,” said an officer from Khar police station.

According to the internal report, the Khar police could not prove Poonam’s allegations even after they checked the footage from the CCTV cameras and recorded the statements of Jitendra Gaikwad, the security guard, Arjun Nepali, the housekeeper, and Raghvendra Bilava, the CCTV cameras operator, who work for Shroff.

Poonam’s counsel Francisco D’souza said, “After this internal report, crime branch officials recorded the statements of my client Poonam and two more women staff members. We have also learnt that they have recorded Shroff’s statement. One of the staffers said in her statement that Shroff took the safe for two days on April 7.” Lawyer Zulfikar Memon representing Shroff said, “Poonam’s allegations are baseless and only to pressurise my client. We will contest them.”