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Two women who helped fugitive drug ring kingpin Lalit Patil arrested
The city police arrested Pragya Kamble (39) and Archana Nikam (33), women accomplices of the fugitive drug ring kingpin, from Nashik, a day after Patil was nabbed by the Mumbai counterpart from Bengaluru
The Pune crime branch arrested two women on Wednesday for helping in the escape of drug haul accused Lalit Patil, police said.
The city police arrested Pragya Kamble (39) and Archana Nikam (33), women accomplices of the fugitive drug ring kingpin, from Nashik, a day after Patil was nabbed by the Mumbai counterpart from Bengaluru.
Following the arrest, the police through the public prosecutor informed the Pune court that the duo had paid ₹25 lakh to Patil to facilitate his escape. The accused women were brought to Pune by the crime branch unit II sleuths and produced before the court amidst tight security late Thursday afternoon.
After hearing the arguments by the prosecution, Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) AC Birajdar by Thursday afternoon ordered custodial remand of Kamble and Nikam till October 23 and directed the police to present them before the court on expiry of their custody.
During the hearing, the investigating officer told the court that the duo had helped accused Patil by giving him ₹25 lakh and demanded seven days police custody. While granting four days police custody, the judge stated that the police had satisfactorily inquired about their role before making their arrest, case diary shows Patil’s connect with the women accused, remand application states that they provided ₹25 lakh to him and for further investigation based on the outcome of investigation till date.
Investigating officer Nandkumar Bidwai told the court that the police needed custodial remand for recovery of money from the accused and unearth the conspiracy.
Advocates Tejas Punekar and Sameer Inamdar represented the accused in the court and opposed seven days custodial demand made by the investigation officer. Special Public Prosecutor Neelam Yadav made submissions on behalf of the police. After the arrest of Patil, one policeman has reached Mumbai while another has gone to Nasik and nabbed the duo who were close friends of the accused. After his escape, Patil was found to be in constant touch with the two women and is stated to have given his illicit income to the duo. He had also spent some money earned out of drug sales on them, investigators added.
Drug smuggler Lalit, who escaped from Sassoon General Hospital, was caught by a team of Mumbai police in Bengaluru on Wednesday. A Mumbai court has ordered him to be remanded in police custody till Saturday (October 21).
After escaping from the hospital, Patil visited multiple places, including Nashik and took money from Kadam and Nikam.
According to the Pune police officials who interrogated the two women, Patil had planned to flee to Sri Lanka from Chennai. For the past fifteen days, the Pune police team was on the hunt to catch him. A senior crime branch official stated that they were probing as to how Patil travelled from Sassoon to Chennai and who had given him shelter? An investigation is being conducted in this regard, he said.
A team of Pune police arrested the two after getting information that Patil’s women friends had helped him escape. The Pune Police had suspicions about advocate Pragya from early as she was in touch with the suspect over phone, officials said. She was also his legal advisor. When Patil ran away, the police were on the trail of her and Bhushan Patil. But even after Bhushan was found, she was not taken into custody. It turned out that his other friend Archana met him at Sassoon Hospital.
The city police had received flak from several quarters following Patil’s escape from Sassoon Hospital on October 4. The drug kingpin fugitive was arrested by Sakinaka Police in Bengaluru and has been on the run for the past 15 days. While he escaped, the police widened their probe and unearthed a drug factory in Nashik and seized a large quantity of drugs during a raid. The city police plan to book him and his aides under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
