Chargesheet filed against eight in ₹2,500 crore drug haul

The police have seized a total of 1,218 kilograms of mephedrone, worth ₹2,435 crore in the illicit market, from the gang

Mumbai: The Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police crime branch on Friday filed a chargesheet against eight accused arrested in connection with the ₹2,500 crore mephedrone haul earlier this year.

Chargesheet filed against eight in ₹2,500 crore drug haul

The ANC had between March and September arrested the eight accused, including Prem Prakash Singh, the alleged mastermind of the racket. A post-graduate in organic chemistry, Singh allegedly used his knowledge to synthesise mephedrone in chemical factories, whose owners also figure in the list of charge-sheeted accused, and sell it to drug peddlers in Mumbai and nearby areas. The others arrested in the case include drug peddlers.

The police have seized a total of 1,218 kilograms of mephedrone, worth ₹2,435 crore in the illicit market, from the gang.

“We have filed our chargesheet in the case before a special NDPS court on Friday. The chargesheet runs into 4,818 pages and further investigations into the matter are underway,” said Datta Nalawade, deputy commissioner of police, ANC.

Apart from reports of forensic analysis of the seized mephedrone, the chargesheet also includes statements of around 70 witnesses, details of financial transactions between the accused and their Call Detail Records (CDRs) which establish their collusion for the offence, officers said.

“The owners of the two factories located in Ambarnath and Gujarat, where Singh synthesised the mephedrone, had accepted payment in cash for their services, making it a challenge to substantiate this. However, we have found people in whose presence the money changed hands as well as people who collected the money on behalf of the two factory owners and have recorded their statements. Similarly, we also have statements of transporters whose services were used to pick up the mephedrone from the factories and deliver it to Singh,” said an officer who is part of the investigation.

The investigation into the racket began on March 29 this year, when the ANC’s Worli unit arrested Shamshullah Khan (38) from Shivaji Nagar with 250 grams of mephedrone. In his interrogation, he named Ayub Sheikh (33) as his supplier and the ANC arrested him, recovering 2.760 kilograms of the drug from him. The ANC went on to arrest Reshma Chandan (49) and Riyaz Memon (43), who were also part of the same drug peddling ring. The interrogation of all the four accused led the ANC to Singh, the alleged kingpin of the racket, whose arrest led to the first major haul in the case, 701 kg of mephedrone worth ₹1,404 crore from a godown in Nallasopara.

In their further investigation, the ANC identified Namau Chem Pvt. Ltd in Ambarnath and Infinity Research and Development in Gujarat, where the drugs were allegedly synthesised. In subsequent raids, the ANC seized 451 kg of mephedrone worth ₹90 lakh from Namau Chem and 521 kg worth ₹1,042 crore from Infinity Research and Development.

The agency went on to arrest Namau Chem’s manager, Kiran Chaudhari (52) and Infinity’s owner Ramendrakumar Dikshit (50) in the case. Jinendra Vora, the owner of Namau Chem, was the eighth and final accused to be arrested in the case earlier this month.