Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai)

Probe leads crime branch team to Delhi

- Manish K Pathak

Days after Shifu Sunkriti cult leader Sunil Kulkarni was arrested, the Mumbai crime branch has sent a team to Delhi to investigat­e further.

Mumbai police said they found a sex clip in Kulkarni’s phone and pen drive when they searched his Bandra apartment. They suspect that the man and woman in the clip are residents of Delhi, where Kulkarni lived for a while.

They have sent the phone and other seized material to the state forensic laboratory in Kalina.

Searches conducted at Mumbai had led the police to find several medicines, which Kulkarni allegedly gave the women who joined his cult.

So far, Kulkarni has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) in Delhi. He was later granted bail.

Police said they will search his Delhi residence to gather evidence against him. They will also speak to the Delhi police to find out more.

Police will also record the statements of the Malad sisters aged 21 and 23 years, whose parents filed a petition in the Bombay high court, saying Kulkarni had ‘entrapped’ their daughters.

The couple claimed their daughters’ behaviour “changed drasticall­y after attending the activities of the cult”.

“They abandoned their studies and threatened to commit suicide when the parents thought of approachin­g the police. They even lodged a complaint against their parents, alleging domestic abuse and wrongful confinemen­t,” states the plea.

The Mumbai police have filed a case under sections 328 (caus ing hurt by means of poison with intent to commit an offence), 370 (traffickin­g), 292 (sale of obscene books act), 420 (cheat ing) Indian Penal Code and other sections of the Informa tion Technology Act at the Malad police station.

 ?? HT PHOTO ?? Sunil Kulkarni, alleged cult leader.
HT PHOTO Sunil Kulkarni, alleged cult leader.

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