PROPERTY OWNERS SAY THEY ARE UNFAIR TARGETS IN DRUG CASE

As controversy swirls over the proposed Fifth and Forbes project for
revitalizing Downtown Pittsburgh, owners of two of the 125 mom-and-pop
stores Mayor Murphy has targeted for razing are facing an even more serious
challenge than losing their stores to the wrecking ball.

The government may seize the properties as part of a drug case headed for
trial later this month in U.S. District Court.

Akhil Kumar Mishra and his wife, Rajeshwari, owners of Novelties
International at 130 Fifth Ave. and Hari's Karishma at 238 Forbes Ave., are
under indictment on charges of trafficking in drug paraphernalia at the shops.

The Mishras, vocal critics of the mayor's redevelopment plan who say they
are being unfairly targeted, may lose their property to federal forfeiture
if convicted. The trial is scheduled to start June 19.

At a pre-trial hearing yesterday before U.S. District Judge Robert
Cindrich, the couple's attorney, Carl Max Janavitz, tried to poke holes in
the prosecution's case, saying a 1998 raid was illegal and arguing that the
Mishras are being singled out for selling the same kinds of pipes and
lighters as many Internet distributors who are not prosecuted.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Teitelbaum argued that the raid was justified
and said that Akhil Kumar Mishra ignored a federal judge's order at a
previous sentencing to stop selling drug-related items.

The case against the Mishras began on Sept. 16, 1998, when Pittsburgh
police raided Hari's Karishma in search of fake designer-label clothes and
found the drug paraphernalia. A week later, Drug Enforcement Administration
agents conducted their own raid and seized pipes, scales, bags and other items.

Based on the DEA raid, a grand jury handed up an indictment against the
couple that seeks forfeiture of the shops.

Janavitz maintains that evidence from the DEA raid should be suppressed
because an Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge has already granted a
motion to suppress evidence from the city's raid, declaring it illegal.

Teitelbaum said the federal raid was not tainted by that ruling and the
federal case stands on its own, especially since it is based in part on
statements from informants who said they had bought drug paraphernalia at
the shops for years even while Mishra was on probation for an earlier
conviction.

Janavitz's other main argument is that Akhil Kumar Mishra is the victim of
selective prosecution because he is a property owner with assets, unlike
most paraphernalia shop owners who rent space. He said that's why the
government hasn't included a third Mishra shop, this one rented in a
building in Market Square, as part of its case.