E-Paper
Rs 19 cr fraud: Couple evading arrest for 9 months, thanks to police’s sluggish approach
Questions are being raised over the pace of the investigation by Economic Offences Wing (EOW) into the Rs 19-crore diamond deal fraud case. Nine months after the case was registered, police have failed to nab the main accused—Panchkula-based businessman Ashok Mittal and his wife Chetna Mittal. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had turned down Ashok Mittal’s anticipatory bail on Friday and the EOW officials say they would conduct raids at his residence in Panchkula.
Questions are being raised over the pace of the investigation by Economic Offences Wing (EOW) into the Rs 19-crore diamond deal fraud case. Nine months after the case was registered, police have failed to nab the main accused—Panchkula-based businessman Ashok Mittal and his wife Chetna Mittal. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had turned down Ashok Mittal’s anticipatory bail on Friday and the EOW officials say they would conduct raids at his residence in Panchkula.
Mittal was booked for allegedly duping an SAS Nagar-based businessman of `19 crore on the pretext of providing diamonds from Belgium at rate 25% less than the market price. The case was registered in October 2015 and since then no arrest had been made.
The complainant, Vikas Walia, the owner of Anmol Rattan Jewellers, is not happy with the pace of police investigation, saying Ashok Mittal was buying time and moving courts to get relief. He said that the accused was facing about 15 cases in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal and conducting raids only at his house is an eyewash knowing well that chances of finding him there were bleak. Mittal’s daughter and son have already managed to secure bail.
The complainant, Vikas Walia, said Mittal had initially got a cheating case registered against him and the police probe found that the case was filed to blackmail and extort money. The case was quashed on August 17, 2015. Subsequently, Walia, in a police complaint, stated he was cheated by Mittal and his wife, and a case was lodged against them. Walia said Mittal used to dupe people through kitty parties by taking money from businessman on interest and those seeking their money back would be threatened of filing false cases. He said Mittal was already booked in a chit fund scam in Panchkula.
Why not declared a proclaimed offender?
The police failed to start proceedings to get Mittal declared a proclaimed offender. Sources said Mittal had applied for interim bail seven months after the registration of the case and the police did little during this time. Not only this, the police failed to issue a look-out notice against the accused, a common procedure in cases of this nature.
Walia said Mittal could now approach the apex court for relief. He said that Mittal had implicated him in a false case and he had to spent 80 days in Ambala Jail.
DSP( Eow) Pawan Kumar said they were trying to track Mittal down through his mobile phone but he is changing it time and again. He said they had also conducted raids at his hideouts and a special team had been constituted to nab him.
