The Pune police have lodged a third FIR pertaining to cheating against Kiran Gosavi, the controversial ‘independent witness’ of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and self-styled ‘private investigator’ of the Mumbai cruise drugs case.
Mr. Gosavi, who made news after his selfie with Aryan Khan — son of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan — went viral on social media after the drug bust of October 2, was arrested by the city police on October 28 in connection with a cheating case lodged against him in 2018. A local court later remanded him in police custody till November 5.
The latest FIR was lodged at the Wanowrie police station late Saturday.
Officials said the case was lodged following a complaint from a resident of Mohammadwadi, who alleged that he had been duped by Mr. Gosavi on the pretext of getting him a job in Malaysia in 2018-19.
“The complainant has also alleged that Gosavi threatened him with a firearm when he sought his money — ₹1.5 lakh — back from the accused,” said a police official.
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Another FIR had been lodged in the city’s Lashkar police station on Saturday based on three other fraud plaints against Mr. Gosavi.
On Thursday last week, a team of policemen from the anti-extortion cell of the Pune crime branch had taken the absconding Gosavi into custody from a lodge in the city’s Katraj area.
The city police had kept him under intense surveillance and were reportedly tracking a dozen possible locations for him. A look-out circular (LOC) had been issued by the Pune police on October 13 to prevent Mr. Gosavi from fleeing the country.
An FIR had first been lodged against him in Pune in connection with a cheating case by one Chinmay Deshmukh, a resident of the city’s Kasba Peth area in the Faraskhana police station on May 29, 2018.
According to the FIR, Mr. Gosavi had posted an advertisement about hotel management jobs on social media platforms and Mr. Deshmukh got in touch with him. Mr. Gosavi had allegedly promised the latter a job in Malaysia and had asked him to transfer ₹3.09 lakh to his bank account between November 2017 and March 2018. As neither the job nor his money was forthcoming, Mr. Deshmukh lodged a police complaint after which a case under Sections 419 and 420 of the IPC and relevant Sections of the Information and Technology Act were lodged against Mr. Gosavi.
Most of the victims have said they had been threatened by the accused, who had reportedly gone incommunicado after the October 2 drug bust where questions were raised about his controversial involvement in the NCB raid.
Mr. Gosavi has also been named as an accused in similar cheating cases in Mumbai and Thane as well.
