Court denies bail in ₹115-crore Satara MD bust

Special Judge N.R. Pradhan observed that while no drugs were recovered from Cherian, statements of co-accused and other material collected during the probe indicated his alleged role in the manufacture and sale of MD

MUMBAI: A special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Friday refused bail to Kuruvilla Omen Cherian, an accused in the alleged ₹115-crore mephedrone (MD) manufacturing racket busted in Satara last year, holding that that there was sufficient prima facie material linking him to the organised crime syndicate and finding no reason to release him on medical grounds.

Court denies bail in ₹115-crore Satara MD bust

Special Judge N.R. Pradhan observed that while no drugs were recovered from Cherian, statements of co-accused and other material collected during the probe indicated his alleged role in the manufacture and sale of MD.

According to the prosecution, co-accused Rayees Riyaz Shaikh claimed he sourced MD from Cherian, while another accused, Vishal More, allegedly confessed that 2 kg of the drug had been delivered to Cherian at the behest of a wanted accused. Prosecutors alleged that all the accused were part of an organised crime syndicate led by Faiyaz Shaikh.

The court rejected the defence’s argument that the case relied only on inadmissible statements and call detail records, holding that there was enough prima facie material to deny bail at this stage.

The court also considered a pending NDPS case against Cherian registered at Ravet police station in Pune in 2023, holding that his criminal antecedents provided an additional ground to deny bail under MCOCA.

The case stems from a December 2025 Mumbai Crime Branch operation in which two men were arrested with 136 grams of MD. The probe led investigators to an alleged drug manufacturing unit in Savari village of Satara’s Javali taluka, where police claimed to have seized 7.518 kg of finished MD and 38.82 kg of MD kept for drying. Following which, investigators invoked MCOCA alleging that the accused were manufacturing and trafficking narcotic drugs as an organised crime syndicate.