Hawala operator arrested in Sangli drug bust case

The accused, Jeshbhai Motabhai, used to collect cash derived from the sale of mephedrone – also known also as MD, a narcotic substance – from drug dealers and transfer the money to Shinde via hawala transactions, said police officials

Mumbai: The Mumbai crime branch (CB) on Sunday arrested a 33-year-old man who allegedly worked as a conduit between drug dealers in the city and Pravin alias Nagesh Ramchandra Shinde, whose narcotics factory in Sangli was busted by police on March 25. The accused, Jeshbhai Motabhai, used to collect cash derived from the sale of mephedrone – also known also as MD, a narcotic substance – from drug dealers and transfer the money to Shinde via hawala transactions, said police officials.

Hawala operator arrested in Sangli drug bust case

According to sources in the crime branch, Shinde would travel frequently from Sangli to Kalbadevi in Mumbai to collect money from Motabhai. He had collected around ₹8 crore in recent months, including ₹3.46 crore collected a few days prior to his arrest on March 25, which was kept at his friend’s place in Bhiwandi. The police raided the friend’s place on March 30 and seized some of the cash, they noted.

Soon after the police busted Shinde’s factory in Sangli and arrested him and five other persons from the spot, Motabhai had fled to his native place Deesa, a city in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district, said Datta Nalawade, deputy commissioner of police, CB.

“We kept searching for him. As soon as we learnt that he had come to Mumbai, a police team traced him and arrested him,” the officer stated. “He was produced in the court and remanded in police custody.”

Motabhai, who had been working with Shinde for over two years, had deleted all the data from his mobile phone, the officer further stated. “Nevertheless, we have identified the entire nexus of drug dealers and will arrest them soon,” he said.

Shinde, an SSC pass out and the alleged mastermind of the narcotics manufacturing and smuggling ring, was arrested on March 25, when unit 7 of the crime branch busted his drug-making unit in Sangli district and seized 122 kg of high-quality MD, ₹15 lakh in cash, gold and other valuables, whose combined worth was around ₹253 crore. Five other persons arrested along with Shinde included Vasudev Laxman Jadhav, 34; Prasad Mohite, 24; Vikas Malme, 25; Avinash Mali, 28 – all residents of Kavathe Mahakal in Sangli district; and Laxman Balu Shinde, 35, a resident of Kolhapur district.

During the probe, it was found that Shinde allegedly spent ₹1 crore from the proceeds of drug sale to buy 12 acres of land in Sangli in December 2023. The land was registered in the name of his associate Vasudev Laxman Jadhav, and it housed the factory where MD was manufactured, said officials. Shinde allegedly learned to manufacture MD while working in Varanasi in 2021, after which he started his own venture in Sangli.

“We will start the procedure to seize the property as proceeds of the crime soon,” said a police officer.