AHMEDABAD: Malini Patel, wife of alleged conman Kiran Patel, was taken into custody by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch on Tuesday morning in connection with a Rs 15 crore fraud complaint. The charge was filed against the couple by Jagdish Chavda, brother of a former BJP minister Jawahar Chavda on March 22.
Addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) for
the Crime Branch Chaitanya Mandlik stated, " As soon as the complaint was filed, Malini Patel attempted fleeing. A report of encroachment on a bungalow led to Malini Patel's detention in Jambusar, Gujarat. Kiran Patel and Malini Patel travelled together also to Jammu. When the complaint was filed, she initially ran away to Nadiad and then to Jambusar.”
“Another case against Malini Patel was filed in 2017 at the Naroda police station for selling a car to the Swaminarayan temple directly. The interrogation of Malini has begun. Kiran Patel will be brought to Ahmedabad on the basis of a transfer warrant after March 31,” he added.
Jagdish Chavda, the complainant, alleges that he had received a notice from Ahmedabad's Mirzapur court in August 2022, which named Kiran Patel and Malini Patel as the owners of the bungalow, following which Chavda filed a fraud complaint against them.
Ahmedabad Crime Branch police station received an FIR on March 22 from Jagdish Chavda, accusing Kiran and Malini of defrauding him of approximately Rs 15 crore for the purported purpose of renovating his home in the Shilaj neighbourhood of Ahmedabad in 2022. This is Kiran's fourth Gujarat-related FIR.
The FIR states that Kiran gained Chavda's trust by identifying himself as a "Class 1 Officer in the PMO" with ties to a "major Adani project." Kiran claimed to have "experience in refurbishing houses and buildings" and "a high political prestige," the FIR says.
The duo Kiran Patel and Malini Patel were charged with violating provisions of the Indian Criminal Code 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 170 (personating a public servant), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing handover of property), and 406 (criminal breach of trust).
'Conman' Kiran Patel is still being held in judicial custody in Jammu and Kashmir, where he is suspected of impersonating a member of the Prime Minister's Office in order to receive benefits including security and housing. Hitesh Pandya, Public relations officer in Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel's office, resigned last week After his son was questioned by the J&K police about his connections with Conman Kiran Patel.