Nagpur: Finally the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court issued notices to the Joint Director, ED, Mumbai Zone II and the Deputy Director, ED, Nagpur Sub Zone in betel nut smuggling probe by Enforcement Directorate, on the plea made by veteran Homeopath Dr. Mehboob Chimthanawala who is a whistleblower in unearthing the multi-crore betel nut smuggling.
In 2016, Dr. Chimthanawala unearthed the entire Betel Nut Smuggling Scam by filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court. Taking strict note of the ongoing state of affairs, the High Court passed several orders and directions and took away the probe from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), and handed over the probe to the CBI.
Gold Rate
Friday 21 Feb. 2025
The High Court further directed the CBI to register F.I.R. against the persons involved in Betel Nut Smuggling and resultantly, the agency registered offence against several persons including some government officials from DRI, Customs Department etc.
Last month, it seems that the said investigation was either taken over by the ED or it has started a parallel investigation and ED has carried out several raids in Nagpur and Mumbai. ED has also seized unaccounted Betel Nuts worth crores.
And now, the ED has summoned the veteran Homeopath Dr. Chimthanawala to Mumbai for seeking information. The ED wants Dr. Chimthanawala to disclose information about the betel nut traders, transporters and godowns of the smugglers.
Expressing concern over being summoned by ED, the whistleblower of the Betel Nut smuggling has moved to the Court again, with the plea that the entire information that he has gathered as a researcher has been submitted to the Court and now it is the duty of the agencies to investigate and find out the real culprits behind the whole scam and it is not possible for the Homeopath to go everywhere and dig out the latest information.
But interestingly, 2 Senior Judges of the Nagpur High Court, Justice A.S. Chandurkar and Justice Rohit Deo have recused themselves to hear the matter and finally on Friday, notices came to be issued by Justice Vinay Joshi and Justice Valmiki Sa Menezes to Joint Director, ED, Mumbai Zone II and Deputy Director, ED, Nagpur Sub Zone.
The CBI has also filed a report in respect of the investigation done by it so far, which is lying before the Court in a sealed envelope.
Adv. Raspal Singh Renu assisted by Adv. Satpal S. Renu & Adv. Rajenderpal S. Renu appeared for the veteran Homeopath.
