Couple ‘needed constant treatment’ over med school charges

TWO of the people accused of selling places at the University of Kwazulunatal’s medical school claim they were made the “fall guys” by others with strong connections to the institute.

Hiteshkumar Bhatt, 47, and his wife, Varsha, 45, faced charges related to fraud and the contravention of the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Activities Act, which were provisionally withdrawn against them and the third accused in the matter, Preshni Hiraman, 55, this week.

Magistrate Correl Language made the decision when the trio appeared at the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court.

The matter was marked “final” after a previous postponement in March.

State advocate Attie Truter applied for a year-long adjournment so that the Hawks could continue with forensic investigations into data they had previously seized from the accused. The State alleged that the accused sold places at UKZN’S medical school for as much as R500 000.

But advocate Rajiv Sarjoo, acting for the couple, and Hiraman’s representative, advocate Jacques Botha, both asked for the charges against their clients to be dropped. Speaking on behalf of Hiteshkumar and Varsha Bhatt, attorney Roy Singh, of law firm Rajesh Singh Attorneys, said his clients had always maintained their innocence.

“They (the Bhatts) are satisfied with the withdrawal because the matter had been going on for 18 months and affected them emotionally and financially.

“My clients have always said they were innocent, even in a Carte Blanche interview, and waited to prove their innocence in court.”

The Bhatts, the owners of the Little Gujarat restaurant, and Hiraman, a former teacher-turned-businesswoman, were arrested in May 2017.

When the police swooped on the Little Gujarat restaurant in Durban’s CBD, assets belonging to the Bhatts, including two Mercedes-benz vehicles, laptops, hard-drives and flash-drives were taken. Hiraman was arrested at her home in Somerset Park.

Singh said after their arrest the Bhatts required continuous treatment for anxiety and depression. “Varsha’s business requires her to be in contact with people daily. When she encounters people in the restaurant, especially those in uniform, she becomes panicked.

“When they were arrested more than 20 police members barged into her shop. She’s been fearful ever since.”

Their businesses had been affected and the couple had been defamed internationally. “Little Gujarat was featured on CNN as one of the top eateries in Durban. When the story broke, Hitesh’s family in the UK and India also heard about it,” said Singh.

“People only visited their shop for gossip and to nag them for information. Going forward, they are looking to getting their lives back on track.”

Botha said the past 18 months had been a very difficult time for Hiraman.

“She was judged and bullied on social media. My client and her husband were treated for depression, they were forced to close their business and some family won’t speak to them.”

Botha said although the immediate prejudice from standing trial had been diminished, it was cold comfort for Hiraman. “The matter hasn’t gone away; it is only struck off the roll. The prosecution team must finish their investigation, and they could apply to have the case reinstated.”

But Botha doubts whether the period requested by Truter will be enough to investigate the data collected.

“The State said it had 56 million hits to investigate and correlate. The warrant officer (Sunette Potgieter), who testified in court on Thursday, said she had only worked on the matter for two hours each day. If she worked on a few hundred hits a day, it could take around 10 years before she’s done. If that happened, then the question is, will the accused and witnesses be expected to remember details? The prolonged wait will also be prejudicial to the state.”

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Kara said they believed the matter could be reinstated in the future. UKZN’S executive director of corporate relations, Norman Zondo, told Independent Media earlier this week that the court’s decision would not affect their own probe into the matter.