E-Paper
Police seize drugs worth ₹2.14 cr near Sassoon Hospital
The Anti-Narcotics Unit 2 of the Pune city police busted a drugs racket by arresting two people near Sassoon General Hospital in Pune on Saturday. During the action, police seized 1.71 Kg of mephedrone (MD) worth ₹2.14 crore
PUNE:
The Anti-Narcotics Unit 2 of the Pune city police busted a drugs racket by arresting two people near Sassoon General Hospital in Pune on Saturday. During the action, police seized 1.71 Kg of mephedrone (MD) worth ₹2.14 crore.
The accused have been identified as Subhash Mandal 29, a resident of Dehu Road, Lalit Anil Patil 34, who was undergoing treatment at Sassoon Hospital, and Rauf Sheikh 19, a resident of Tadiwala Road, Pune.
According to police, the incident occurred on Saturday night, and while patrolling in the area, police havaldar Chetan Gaikwad received information that a person was transporting drugs near the Sassoon Hospital area.
After confirmation of the information, unit 2 of the Anti-Narcotics team laid a trap. Police spotted a suspicious movement of Mandal near Babasaheb Ambedkar statue. Police intercepted him and during interrogation, the authorities found mephedrone in his possession.
During the probe, it was discovered that prime accused Lalit Patil, who was receiving treatment at Sassoon Hospital, had delivered MD drug to Mandal through accused Sheikh, who worked in the hospital’s canteen.
According to police, in October 2020, Pimpri-Chinchwad police arrested 21 people involved in the production and sale of MD weighing at least 150kg.
Accused Patil was one of the arrested accused in this case and was imprisoned in Yerwada jail. Meanwhile, Mandal was charged with MCOCA in a robbery case filed at Rajgad Police Station in 2017.
Additional commissioner of police (crime) Ramnath Pokle said, “Accused Lalit Patil is the prime accused in this case. He was arrested in the Chakan narcotics case. For the last two to three months, he was admitted to Sassoon Hospital and receiving treatment for Tuberculosis and Hernia and for other illnesses.’’
Pokle added that authorities are looking into the supply chain of the banned substance after the incident.
Amol Zende, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) said, “We are analysing the call details of the accused to establish further links in this case. Accused Patil was not in our custody, so we have to complete further court procedures to get Patil’s custody. After his interrogation, we can establish further links in this case.’’
A case has been registered at Bund Garden Police station under sections 8(c), 22(c), 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 act, and IPC section 21, and further investigation is going on.
