DJ serving 25 yrs in Sharjah jail, Mumbai police to file chargesheet on his ‘framing’

Actor Chrisann Pereira, who was also allegedly framed by Paul, was acquitted in the drugs case and is likely to return to Mumbai in the next few days

The 37-year-old Mumbai-based DJ was the second victim of Paul, who allegedly framed him in a drugs case and got him arrested by Sharjah airport authorities.

An officer, who is part of the probe, said, “Rodrigues, who was convicted by a Sharjah court last month, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. We are not registering a separate FIR in his case since has been convicted in the case. However, we will be mentioning in our chargesheet how he too, like Chrisann, was framed by Anthony Paul and was not aware that drugs were planted in a cake that he was carrying to Sharjah.”

After Rodrigues was convicted earlier this month, his family, through their lawyer in Sharjah, appealed the conviction.

The officer said, “We are hopeful that the court there will appreciate the fact that a legal document of the Indian government mentions that Rodrigues was not involved in carrying drugs but was rather framed in the case.”

Rodrigues could seek some hope from the fact that a Mumbai-based couple —Mohammad Shaheed and Oniba Qureshi — who were used as drug mules and convicted in Qatar, were released in 2021 after it came to light that they were unaware about the presence of narcotics in the bag they were carrying.

Paul along with his accomplice Rajesh Borate were arrested in April by the Mumbai Police crime branch after it came to light that Paul had tried to exact revenge on five people by sending them to Sharjah with articles laced with drugs.

While three others managed to escape, Rodrigues and Pereira were caught with drugs. In the case of Rodrigues, Paul was upset with him over a comment he made when both their families had gone on a trip to a farmhouse last year.

In January this year, Borate on Paul’s instructions posed as an event manager and called up Rodrigues and offered him a job at an event in Sharjah.

As he was about to fly to Sharjah on February 6, Borate gave him a cake that had drugs hidden in it.
As per the probe by the Mumbai Police crime branch, Paul then called up the Sharjah airport authorities and tipped them off about Rodrigues carrying drugs in a cake.

When the police checked the cake box, they found drugs in it along with a note saying he had more drugs if anyone needed it.

Following this, Rodrigues was arrested by the Sharjah airport police and since then he has been lodged at the Sharjah prison.