Gold worth Rs 5 crore, Rs 1.5 crore in Indian and foreign currencies, 15 luxury watches worth Rs 50 lakh, documents of 18 high-end cars and of properties worth Rs 100 crore, including a Dubai flat in Bhagat and his sister’s name, and three automatic weapons were among the assets seized.
A primary cause for worry is a cache of documents on EOW and ED investigations, including private complaints against Mahadev betting app, that was seized from the Khar house. It’s being questioned how Bhagat got his hands on such confidential files.
“A few years ago, Bhagat was just a small man who was liaisoning with officials of police’s economic offences wing (EOW). How has he become this wealthy in a short span?” asked a police officer.
Questions about the businessman’s sources of income came as a court on Monday sent Bhagat to judicial custody till Feb 23. Police had sought extension of his custody by one more day, saying they needed to interrogate him more to make a few more arrests as well as question him about the seized assets. More importantly, they said, they want to interrogate him over how he got access to the ED and EOW documents.
Bhagat’s lawyer, Jugal Kanani, argued that police had already exhausted their custody and there was nothing more to be recovered from him. Kanani also moved a bail plea, which will be heard next week. He sought parity, stating that the sessions court had granted interim bail to main accused builder Satish Dhanuka.
Police suspect that there are bigger players behind the extortion racket that was run in ED’s name. “The modus operandi was to lodge private complaints, which were later converted to FIRs, then approach those named in the FIRs and demand huge sumsin the name of ED.
We have found balance sheets, accounts details, bank statements and I-T returns fromBhagat, indicating that he and his cronies were using them to blackmail people. A few people informed us thatthey, too, were victims. We have asked them to file their complaints in writing,” said another official.