Wife of conman Kiran Patel detained in Gujarat

Malini had absconded to Nadiad and then to Jambusar after hearing of the complaint against her and was at the couple’s relatives’ residence, the police said.

Kiran is still in judicial custody in Jammu and Kashmir, where he is accused of posing as an official from the Prime Minister’s Office, based on which he enjoyed a range of perks, from security to accommodation. Last week, Hitesh Pandya, the additional public relations officer in Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel’s office, resigned after his son was questioned by the J&K police for his links to Patel.

On March 22, Jagdish Chavda, brother of former Gujarat minister Jawahar Chavda, had filed an FIR at the Detection of Crime Branch police station in Ahmedabad, naming Kiran and Malini for defrauding him of about Rs 15 crore in the name of renovating his residential property in the Shilaj area of Ahmedabad in 2022. This is the fourth FIR against Kiran in Gujarat.

The couple was booked under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 170 (personating a public servant) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the FIR, Kiran had won Chavda’s trust by claiming to be a “Class 1 Officer in the PMO” who was connected to a “big Adani project”. The FIR quotes that Kiran had told Chavda that he has a “large political stature” and has “experience in renovating bungalows and buildings”.

According to Malini’s advocate Nisar Vaidhya, an anticipatory bail application had been filed. “The hearing was on Tuesday morning. But before the matter was taken up in the court, the police had taken her,” Vaidhya said.

“No notice was served by the court against the arrest of Malini Patel, and we arrested her before the hearing,” DCP Mandlik said when asked if any anticipatory bail had been filed against Malini’s arrest or if any notice had been served for the same.

Explaining Malini’s role in the recent fraud, the DCP said that she was with her husband when the crime was committed and was a beneficiary in the profits. Malini was being arrested as she helped her husband Kiran, he added.

“She used to live with Kiran, is his wife and was in his support twice…..in two cases (Naroda FIR, 2017, and DCB FIR, March 22). She even visited Srinagar twice with Kiran Patel. In the recent case…she helped the main accused, her husband Kiran Patel,” DCP Mandlik added.

Earlier, DCP Mandlik had told The Indian Express, “We have emailed a notice to the jail authorities in Jammu and Kashmir (for the custody of Kiran Patel) on Sunday. We will take him into custody after 7-8 days.” Mandlik also said that the Ahmedabad court had ordered that the authorities in J&K should be informed seven days prior to the arrest.

On Tuesday, the DCP said that the warrant process is going on and Kiran will be brought to Ahmedabad after March 31 when the seven-day notice period to give prior information to the Srinagar jail authorities will get over.