Claiming to be currently leading the life of a yogini, yesteryear Bollywood actress Mamta Kulkarni on Friday vehemently denied her alleged involvement in the Rs 2,000 crore Ephedrine drug scandal and said that the Thane Police were “hell-bent” on framing her in the case.
“I am innocent of the accusations against me, I have never engaged in any act contrary to the principles of the Indian statutes and am a victim of highhandedness, crude, unprofessional and unethical conspiracy by the officers of DEA of the United States and Thane Police,” Kenya-based Mamta said in a statement released by her lawyers in Mumbai.
Mamta (44) and her husband-cum-business partner Vicky Goswami, a Kenya-based drug smuggler, have been named as key accused by the Thane Police in the much-discussed Rs 2,000 crore Ephedrine drug haul case. There are in all 17 accused in the case. Of the accused, ten have already been arrested and are currently in judicial custody.
In her statement, Mamta urged Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju not to press for her extradition. She has also written to both the Ministers in this regard. At a Press conference addressed in the city on Mamta’s behalf, a battery of lawyers denied all the charges.
Senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha member Majeed Memon, who was also present, questioned the investigations and the chargesheet filed in the case.