MUMBAI: Jiya Jacob, the 11th accused arrested in the suspected drug overdose case that resulted in the deaths of two MBA students, was remanded to judicial custody by a magistrate court in Borivali on Thursday.
Vanrai Police are now searching for Jacob's live-in partner, Mahesh Khemlani, who is believed to have left the country following the incident. Police informed the court that Khemlani and Jacob had deposited a sum of Rs 14.95 lakh in cash into her bank account, and they need to determine the source of this income. Jacob, a bar dancer, was taken into custody last week.
According to police, Jacob did not cooperate with the investigation and claimed that her bank account was operated by Khemlani. The duo had been acquainted since 2012 and were living together for the past four years. Authorities expected Jacob to provide more details about Khemlani's activities and whereabouts, but she did not disclose any information during the probe.
The case involves the deaths of a 28-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, part of a group of 25 MBA students attending a music concert in Goregaon on April 11. They died after consuming Ecstasy pills. Another female student who also consumed Ecstasy fell ill and has since received treatment.
Police stated that on Khemlani's instructions, four other accused previously arrested in this case deposited money into Jacob's bank account. Khemlani had sent them a QR code for the transfers. Among the four, Anand Patel transferred Rs 64,000 to Jacob, Vineet Gerelani sent Rs 22,500, Shubh Agarwal transferred Rs 1.66 lakh, and the prime accused, Ayush Sahitya, transferred Rs 1.84 lakh. Police have also recovered WhatsApp messages between Jacob and Sahitya regarding the money transfers.
Police suspect that these transactions, totaling Rs 4.37 lakh, were proceeds from drug sales. In a related development, four other accused have filed bail applications in the sessions court. The hearing for the bail pleas of Raunak Khandelwal, Pratik Pandey, Sunny Jain, and Vihan Samal is scheduled for May 6 at the sessions court. Khandelwal and Pandey are MBA students, Jain worked at the concert venue, and Samal was the concert organizer.
