Solapur MD factory bust: Crime branch arrests financier who provided ₹60 lakh

The director of a chemical company in Mumbai has been arrested for allegedly financing a Mephedrone manufacturing unit. The unit was busted in October, and the accused invested ₹60 lakh ($85,000) in the production of the synthetic stimulant.

MUMBAI: The Mumbai crime branch arrested the director of a chemical company for allegedly financing the Mephedrone (MD) manufacturing unit, which was busted by the crime branch in October at the outskirts of Solapur.

The accused, Ramagoud Chandrayyagoud Idagi alias Raju Goud, is a director at Shree Shenky Chemicals Pvt Ltd.

The accused, Ramagoud Chandrayyagoud Idagi alias Raju Goud, is a director at Shree Shenky Chemicals Pvt Ltd. He is a resident of Zaheerabad taluka of Sangareddy district of Telangana. Police said Goud invested ₹60 lakh for manufacturing MD, a synthetic stimulant.

After the crime branch raid, the local police arrested one of the drug suppliers and recovered 3 kilograms of MD, which was manufactured in the same factory, and a case was registered against Goud. The Mohol police in Solapur had arrested Goud, and after he was sent to judicial custody, unit 9 approached the Solapur session court and took him in custody from a local jail.

He was then produced in court and remanded in police custody till December 21.

In October, Unit 9 busted the MD manufacturing unit in Solapur and seized eight kilograms of the synthetic stimulant and 60 kilograms of the raw materials like methylene, propane, acetic acid, and bromine used for manufacturing the synthetic stimulant. The police claimed that the value of the seized contraband is around ₹116 crore. After the bust, they arrested three accused, including two brothers — Rahul Gawali and Atul Gawali, on October 15 and their associate Kailasham Vanmali on October 27.

Gawli brothers are residents of Solapur and were arrested in Khar on October 15. During their interrogation, the duo revealed that they had manufactured the synthetic drugs themselves at Chincholi MIDC in Solapur.

Both brothers are SSC dropouts and have worked in chemical factories. They got the idea of manufacturing MD while working in the companies. Thereafter, they rented a 21,000 square feet plant, paying ₹30,000 rent. They even made three laboratories and used to manufacture and sell the manufactured MD themselves.

They had hired three watchmen, however, none of them had any idea what they were doing in the laboratory. They told people that they were manufacturing chemicals.

Vanmali, a resident of Hyderabad who allegedly helped the Gawli brothers manufacture MD, is a chemistry graduate. Police officials said Vanmali had been manufacturing MD at Solapur for seven months. Several police teams were formed after the Gawli brothers revealed the identity of peddlers who procured the drug from them.