The Pimpri-Chinchwad police on Saturday arrested a sub-inspector and seized over 44 kg of Mephedrone (MD) from his possession following the confession of an arrested peddler.
On Friday morning, a team from Sangvi police station questioned Namami Shankar Zha for his suspicious activities. During interrogation, the police found 2.20 kg of MD drugs worth ₹2 crore from his possession.
He confessed to the involvement of police sub-inspector Vikas Shelke, attached to the Nigdi police station, who had supplied him the banned drug. Police arrested Shelke and seized an additional MD stock of 44.790 kg, with a market value of ₹44,79,80,000, from him.
Vinoy Kumar Choubey, Pimpri-Chinchwad police commissioner, said, “We have adopted a zero-tolerance policy in drug-related cases. As soon as we received information about the involvement of a policeman in the case, we arrested him. He is also suspended from service.”
According to Choubey, Shelke approached Zha to sell MD packets. However, in his first attempt, Zha was intercepted and arrested, leading to the subsequent arrest of Shelke on Saturday.
Police officials stated that during the night hours of February 26, a gunny bag containing the banned drug fell from a truck on the old Pune-Mumbai highway. A cab driver, Ishwar Mote, collected the bag assuming it to be raw material for an industrial unit. Consequently, he handed it over to the police chowki at Bhakti Shakti Chowk.
Constables Sudhir Dhavale and Anil Chavan alerted Shelke who ordered them to hide it and not speak about it to anyone. Shelke later inspected the bag and realised that it contains MD with market value of ₹45 crore.
{{/usCountry}}Constables Sudhir Dhavale and Anil Chavan alerted Shelke who ordered them to hide it and not speak about it to anyone. Shelke later inspected the bag and realised that it contains MD with market value of ₹45 crore.
{{/usCountry}}Police suspected that Shelke had hatched a plan to make money by selling MD and was searching for peddlers. Shelke, a partner in a restaurant business, met with Zha, and with his help, planned to sell the banned drug.
Police sources confirmed that Shelke approached a notorious criminal in Sangvi area to search for peddlers. Following the revelation, a team from Pimpri-Chinchwad police visited Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and detained cab driver Mote. However, CCTV analysis confirmed that the information provided by Mote was accurate, and he had no connection to the drug case.
Choubey said, “We are working to identify the truck involved in carrying drugs. We are probing the possible link of this case with the MD seizure by Pune police.”