Former Bollywood actress Mamta Kulkarni and her Kenya-based husband Vicky Goswami have come under the scanner of police and enforcement agencies, a senior police officer said in Mumbai on Thursday.
Last week the Thane police seized 18.50 tonnes of ephedrine and 2.50 tonnes of acetic anhydride, both banned party drugs valued at more than Rs20 trillion (Dh1.1 trillion) in the international market, from a pharmaceutical factory in Solapur and other locations in Thane and Mumbai.
“It is an international racket and Vicky Goswami is the main link in it. As for Mamta Kulkarni, we shall probe her role in the matter,” said Thane Police Commissioner Parambir Singh.
Eight persons, including Nigerian Sipren Chinassa, have been arrested in what could be India’s biggest drug haul. The Maharashtra and Gujarat police are on the lookout for at least four other people who are missing and reportedly on the run.
Chinassa led the police to other accused that include Manoj Jain, director of BSE-listed Avon Lifesciences Ltd., Punit Shringi, Pradeep Gill, Sagar Powale, Mayur Sukdhare, Dhaneshwar Swamy and Dnyaneshwar Dhimri.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration too has joined in the probe. The US agency met Thane police officials for details as Goswami is allegedly wanted in the US.
Incidentally, Goswami and Kulkarni were detained by Kenyan authorities in 2014 for drug trafficking.
Goswami, 52, was earlier imprisoned for 25 years in the UAE in 1997 for trafficking around 11.50 tonnes of Mandrax but was released in November 2012 on grounds of good conduct.
In 2013, he married Kulkarni, now 44. The couple is reportedly based in Mombasa.
“During questioning, the arrested accused revealed they had travelled to Kenya and met Goswami with plans to set up a drug factory in Mombasa,” Singh said.
During the 1990s, Kulkarni was paired with some of the top Bollywood stars such as Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Kapoor, Atul Agnihotri and many more. She had participated in a TV show and bagged a Femina award too.
