Mumbai: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police on Monday questioned IPS officer Rashmi Karandikar in connection with two criminal cases registered against her husband, Purushottam Chavan, who is accused of defrauding several individuals of over Rs 32 crore.
Maharashtra Cadre IPS officer Karandikar appeared at the EOW headquarters on Monday evening around 7 PM and joined the probe in connection with the investigation of two criminal cases the agency is probing against her husband Purushottam Chavan.
Senior EOW officials confirmed that her enquiry was conducted in the presence of female officers, as per procedure. During the questioning, her lawyer Vaibhav Bagade was also present.
According to the senior officer, Karandikar fully cooperated with the investigation. She took detailed notes during the session and informed officers that she would return for further questioning after reviewing the documents and queries raised by the investigating officers. After nearly an hour of interrogation, she left the EOW office at approximately 8:15 PM.
Sources said that she was specifically questioned about the Rs 3 crore she received in her ICICI Bank account from her husband and accused of Purushottam Chavan account.
Earlier, the EOW had issued a summon on March 11, asking her to appear before the agency on March 13. Karandikar claimed she did not receive the summon, which prompted her voluntary appearance on Monday.
The IPS officer has distanced herself from Chavan and has filed for divorce, citing grounds of mental cruelty, financial harassment, incompatibility, her husband’s bipolar disorder, and concealment of financial dealings.
Last month, EOW registered two cases against Karandikar’s husband Chavan for the alleged offences that took place between March 2015 and April 2024.
The two cases against IPS officer husband, Purushottam Chavan, were initially registered at Colaba Police Station and later transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) for detailed investigation. According to investigators, Chavan is accused of fabricating counterfeit government documents and falsely allotting flats under the guise of a government quota scheme. Victims have alleged that Chavan lured them by promising allotment of government quota flats at discounted rates, using his alleged influence in the government. It is further alleged that Chavan fabricated fake documents to dupe investors.
In the first case, Chavan and 11 others allegedly duped 20 people of Rs 24.78 crore under the pretext of selling them government quota flats in Mumbai, Thane, and Pune at concessional rates using his influence in the government.
In the second FIR, Chavan allegedly swindled a Surat-based businessman and others of Rs 7.42 crore and not only accepted money allegedly from the businessman under the fraudulent pretext of selling plots from government quota at a concessional rate, but also claimed to help him grab contracts for supplying T-shirts in Maharashtra Police Academy in Nashik, but never fulfilled his promises.
Chavan is currently in judicial custody after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him in May last year in connection with a Rs 263-crore Income Tax Refund (ITR) fraud case. He faces multiple charges including cheating, cheating by impersonation, forgery, forgery of valuable security, criminal conspiracy.
Last month, EOW searched the Colaba residence of Chavan and his IPS officer wife and seized certain documents.
