Court orders CID probe into drugs case

MUMBAI: The sessions court has ordered the state Crime Investigation Department (CID) to inquire into allegations by London-based hotelier Ibrahim Patel that the Mumbai police had framed him in a narcotics case.
Patel claims that he has paid a heavy price simply because he shares the same name as three other suspects.
All three Patels are from Bharuch in Gujarat and frequently visit London.The story goes back to 1993 when the narcotics cell obtained nonbailable arrest warrants for an Ibrahim Patel and Hasan Patel in one of its biggest ever seizures of Mandrax tablets from Mumbai and Pune.
It was believed that the two tonnes consignment were part of a drug cartel managed by the drug lord Iqbal Mirchi.
The police said they wanted Ibrahim Patel, aged about 35 years and a resident of Hotel Prince in Bharuch’s Nabipura area, and Hasan Patel, a resident of Lusaka, Zambia. But neither was arrested.
Then on August 15, 1995, the police arrested a man named Ibrahim Patel from Colaba. Fifty-nine-year-old Haji Ibrahim Essa alias Ibrahim Patel was a resident of Lusaka, had a British passport and was convicted in London four times for possessing drugs. However, the police discharged Essa on March 23, 1996 saying he was not the Ibrahim Patel they wanted. Three days later, the police picked up Ibrahim Patel, the hotelier, who had just arrived from London, and booked him for possession of Mandrax.
He was convicted and is currently serving a prison term in Nashik Central Jail. Soon after arresting him for carrying Mandrax, the police also booked him in connection with the earlier 1993 Mandrax haul. Patel was acquitted in this case.
Last year, Patel’s lawyer Champaklal Dave filed a claim in the court of metropolitan magistrate D.K. Sonawane saying his client had been framed and sought an CID inquiry into the acquittal case.
Patel alleged that inspector P.S. Wahule of the narcotics cell had taken over investigations from inspector Ashok Khedkar without obtaining permission either from the special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance court or from his superiors.
However, the magistrate felt Wahule had acted in his official capacity while prosecuting Patel and dismissed the plea. Later though sessions judge H.S. Deshpande set aside Sonawane’s order following an appeal by Patel. The Judge directed the NDPS court to order a CID inquiry into the case.