HYDERABAD: The efforts of Osmania police to extract information on the network of the drug racket proved futile even after interrogating alleged kingpin John Stephen D’Souza alias Steve, 60, for four days.
Steve, owner of Hill Top restaurant is believed to be a connecting link to Edwin, who is suspected to have been involved in the recent alleged murder of Sonali Phogat. He has ever since remained elusive to the police both in Goa and Hyderabad.
Steve was arrested last month based on the names revealed by one of the drug agents, Priteesh Borkar. Though police questioned Steve about the drug racket, he did not cooperate as he kept denying his involvement in drug-related activities. He said he never distributed drugs to his customers.
Police came to know that Steve had given false information that he was 74 and had health complications to evade arrest. They discovered the fact he was only 60 after going through his ID card. Even during questioning, he took pills every couple of hours. Osmania police teams arrested Priteesh Borkar in Habsiguda and later Steve on information revealed by Borkar that he distributed drugs to his restaurant customers.
But despite intense interrogation, Steve kept denying his involvement. As no drugs were found in his possession at the time of his arrest, the police are likely to lodge him back in jail on Saturday. But the police do not want to leave Steve just like that. They are trying to build a watertight case against him as they strongly suspect that he is involved.