Cops to shift ephedrine case witness under threat

The Thane jail authority will change the barrack of an accused due to threat messages that he’s got in jail to discourage him from turning approver in the multi-crore drug racket case which also involves actor Mamta Kulkarni as an accused.

According to sources, few days ago when accused Punit Shringi was in the judicial custody in Thane jail, he claimed that someone threatened him to not record his statement before the magistrate. Special public prosecutor, Shishir Hiray, on Wednesday told the court of special judge and district judge, H.M. Patwardhan about the same.

“Right now Shringi is in the custody of Gujarat ATS but once he will comes back, his barrack will be changed and he will be given proper security if needed,” said a jail authority.

The police was trying to record Shringi’s statement under CrPC Section 164, which was crucial to the investigation of the case. Shringi is one of the accused who has confessed to the crime and has also informed about Kulkarni and Goswami’s involvement in the case. Shringi is a key link in the drug cartel, as the operation and work of processing raw ephedrine and its transportation was allegedly supervised by him.