Solapur MD factory bust: Chemistry grad who provided know-how held from Hyderabad

Police officials said Kailasham Vanmali had been manufacturing MD at Solapur for the Gawli brothers for the past seven months.

MUMBAI: The Mumbai crime branch has arrested Kailasham Vanmali (58), a Hyderabad resident who allegedly helped Atul Gawli and his brother Rahul Gawli manufacture Mephedrone at a factory in Solapur. Vanmali, a chemistry graduate, was arrested from Hyderabad and brought to Mumbai on Friday. He was subsequently remanded in police custody till November 2.

Kailasham Vanmali

Unit 9 of Mumbai crime branch had busted the Gawlis’ MD manufacturing unit in Solapur on October 15 and arrested the two brothers, who are currently in judicial custody. Police had also seized eight kilograms of the synthetic stimulant and 60 kilograms of raw material from the premises, which was valued at around ₹116 crore.

Police officials said Vanmali had been manufacturing MD at Solapur for the past seven months. Several police teams were formed after the Gawli brothers revealed the identity of peddlers who procured the drug from them.

The Gawli brothers told the police during interrogation that they had been manufacturing the synthetic drug at Chincholi MIDC in Solapur. Both are SSC dropouts who worked in chemical factories in the past, and they got the idea of manufacturing MD while working in these factories. Thereafter, they rented a 21,000 square feet plant, paying ₹30,000 rent per month. They had hired three watchmen, but none of them had any idea about what was going on at the laboratory.