Man ‘missing’ for five years suddenly appears in court

NAGPUR: Rahul Wasnik, whose missing complaint was filed at Ambazari police station on October 10 in 2012, made a sudden reappearance before the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) on Tuesday to depose in a fraud case of Rs 60 lakhs filed by his wife Poonam a day ago.
Rahul, who according to his wife Poonam was mentally ailing, added a twist to the fraud case registered on Monday by Ambazari police claiming that he had sold the property “using his free will” and splurged the entire amount on himself.His appearance in the court left everyone stunned.
Rs 60 lakhs was deposited in a bank account opened in Rahul’s name and the same was transferred within a few days into the account of the accused people, which had become the basis of Poonam’s complaint.
Poonam had claimed their residential property at Ambazari Layout was sold in 2013 under pressure by Rahul who had also been kidnapped. Following Poonam’s complaint, police had registered offences against Jeetendra Chavan, Dasrath Jogi, Ravikant Bopche, Mukesh Wagh and Vivek Watekar.
Chavan, who is a builder, was arrested after the FIR was registered and has now been sent to police custody till January 25 by the CJM.
It was during the custodial hearing of Chavan that Rahul entered the court. The prosecution, supported by advocates Sameer Sonwane and Amit Band, had objected to Rahul’s identity, the court had to refer to his picture in the sale deed to confirm it.
Though Rahul tried to give the accused a clean chit, the court is learnt to have raised a question the manner he responded regarding spending away Rs 60 lakhs.
In the same matter earlier, an offence was registered against gangster Santosh Ambekar for having thrashed Chavan in presence of an officer at Ambazari police station. The officer was suspended.
Ambekar, Yuvraj Mathankar, Gautam Bhatkar and several others including Poonam were booked following Chavan’s complaint. It was from that time that Rahul had gone missing.