Mumbai: Gutkha barons Rasiklal Dhariwal and JM Joshi may soon be behind bars as both of them face charges of having links with the underworld.
Mumbai Police Commissioner AN Roy on Thursday sanctioned Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) proceedings against Dhariwal and Joshi.
The sanction was accorded on a reference made by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is investigating the case.
Both gutkha barons had been interrogated by the CBI at length for their alleged links with the underworld, after they surrendered in keeping with the Bombay High Court directives.
CBI will also file a chargesheet against Dawood Ibrahim along both Dhariwal and Joshi.
CBI had on Wednesday sought 15 days time to file reports on the role of Dhariwal and Joshi in this regard and said they were awaiting sanction from the Police Commissioner.
With the Police Commissioner according sanction, the decks are now cleared for the CBI to proceed with their arrests and investigate further.
Joshi and Dhariwal ran into a controversy after the police allegedly detected that they had visited Karachi via Dubai to meet underworld don Dawood Ibrahim to settle their business dispute.
Dawood Ibrahim allegedly coerced both of them to part with the gutkha recipe and machinery to set up a gutkha manufacturing unit for his brother in Karachi, the police has alleged.
Dhariwal owns the Manikchand Gutkha brand and Joshi is the owner of the Goa Gutkha brand.
(With inputs from PTI)
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