Jiya Jacob, 11th accused in suspected drug overdose case, sent to judicial custody

MUMBAI: Jiya Jacob, the 11th accused held in the suspected drug overdose case that led to the deaths of two MBA students, was on Thursday remanded to judicial custody by a magistrate court in Borivali. Vanrai Police are now looking for Jacob's live-in partner, Mahesh Khemlani, who is believed to have moved abroad after the incident. Police have told the court that Khemlani and Jacob had deposited a sum of Rs 14.95 lakh in cash into her bank account and they need to find out the source of this income. Jacob, a bar dancer, was held last week.

Police said Jacob did not cooperate with investigations and said that her bank account was operated by Khemlani. Police said the duo was acquainted since 2012 and were living together for the past four years. Police were expecting Jacob to shed more light on Khemlani's activities and whereabouts, but she did not reveal anything during the probe.

A 28-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman — part of a group of 25 MBA students attending a music concert at Goregaon on April 11 — died from consumption of Ecstasy pills. Another female student, who had also consumed Ecstasy, took ill and has since been treated.

Police stated that on Khemlani’s instructions, four other accused (previously arrested in this case) had deposited money into Jacob’s bank account. Khemlani had sent them the QR code. Of the quartet, Anand Patel transferred Rs 64,000 to Jacob, Vineet Gerelani sent Rs 22,500, Shubh Agarwal Rs 1.66 lakh and prime accused, Ayush Sahitya, transferred Rs 1.84 lakh. Police have also found WhatsApp messages between Jacob and Sahitya on money transfers. Police suspect these transactions amounting to Rs 4.37 lakh collectively were proceeds from sale of drugs.

In a related development, four other accused have moved the sessions court for bail. The hearing for the bail application of Raunak Khandelwal, Pratik Pandey, Sunny Jain and Vihan Samal will come up on May 6 at the sessions court. Khandelwal and Pandey are MBA students, Jain worked for the concert venue, while Samal was the organiser of the concert.



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