Pune city police recorded the statement of Rohini Khadse, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP), on Monday, in connection with the alleged drugs party case against her husband Dr Pranjal Khewalkar. Speaking to media persons later, Rohini said the police had called her to discuss certain points about the case. “I have replied to the questions asked of me. The matter is subjudice, so it would not be correct to share the details with the media. We are cooperating with the police,” she said. Rohini said she was sure that husband was innocent and the same would be proven in a court of law. Rohini is the daughter of senior politician and former Maharashtra minister Eknath Khadse. Rohini visited the crime branch office in Pune Police Commissionerate on Monday morning. Crime branch sleuths questioned her and recorded her statement. Police had arrested Khewalkar along with four men and two women during a raid at apartment number 102 of the Staybird Azure Suite building in Kharadi around 3.20 am on July 25. Police said 2.7 grams of a substance suspected to be cocaine, 70 grams of substances suspected to be marijuana and other items including ten cell phones, two cars, a hookah pot, liquor and beer bottles, all worth Rs 41,35,400, were seized from the spot. A forensic examination confirmed that Khewalkar had not consumed any drugs. A court granted him bail in this case on September 25. Khewalkar had through his lawyer submitted in court that police planted the contraband seized in this case for “political” reasons. The lawyer had argued that drugs were neither consumed by Khewalkar nor recovered from his possession, so the charges against him under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) act were false. The other accused in this case include a cigarette trader Nikhil Jethanand Poptani (35) from DSK Sundarban, Amanora Park and a construction businessman Shripad Mohan Yadav (27) from Akurdi. Poptani had been booked in an online cricket betting racket case registered at the Kondhwa police station in May 2023. As per police records, Yadav was earlier booked in three criminal cases of gambling, cheating and allegedly causing hurt to a government servant on duty at different police stations in Pune.
