Pesi Shroff rejects ‘closure’

In the racehorse doping case involving Bullseye over which jockey turned trainer Pesi Shroff had filed an FIR (first information report) with the Bombay Police 15 months ago, the Crime Branch has come out with an A-Summary report seeking closure of the matter and discharging of the four accused named for their alleged involvement in the crime (see "Sabotage, says Shroff,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, September 7, 2014). However, Shroff is in no mood to let the matter rest and intends to pursue it further in the courts.

Pesi Shroff: contesting police report

Shroff’s legal counsel, appearing before the judge in the 37th Metropolitan Magistrate’s court on May 16, 2015, stated that his client will contest the police report, reported Mumbai Mirror (MM) a day later. Advocate Gautam Tiwari of Probus Legal informed the tabloid: "Today we formally came on record and are certainly going to file a protest petition as we do not agree with the submissions in the A-Summary report. We believe there is further scope for investigation and bringing the accused to book as there are inherent infirmities in the police appreciating the evidence collected.” The Court granted the request and fixed the next hearing for June 26, 2015.
Bullseye is jointly owned by industrialist Vijay Shirke, racing enthusiast Khushroo Dhunjibhoy and solicitor Berjis Desai. Two years ago, when the horse was brought to the Mahalaxmi race course from the Maval-based stud farm and tested positive for banned drugs, Shroff was held responsible by the Royal Western India Turf Club which imposed a nine-month ban on the trainer. Shroff filed a complaint with the Tardeo police in February 2014 alleging foul play, reported The Economic Times (ET) on May 15, 2015. The case was transferred to the Crime Branch which arrested four employees of the stud farm, but soon released them for lack of evidence to conclusively prove their involvement in the incident.
Tiwari told ET: "To be very frank, we certainly don’t agree with the observation of the report… and… (will) take such steps as provided under the law to oppose the A-Summary (report).”