MD worth Rs10 crore seized in Mumbai; 4 arrested

The agency raided Shivam Pharma and Chemicals in Tarapur MIDC where 882.2 litres of mephedrone in liquid form was seized on Friday

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested four people, including a woman, for allegedly manufacturing party drug mephedrone (MD) worth Rs10 crore at Palghar.

The agency raided Shivam Pharma and Chemicals in Tarapur MIDC where 882.2 litres of mephedrone in liquid form was seized on Friday. “This is equivalent to 100-110 kg of powdered mephedrone with a market value of Rs10 lakh a kg,” said an officer.

The arrested people are Jyotsna Srivastava, her brother-in-law Dhananjay Srivastava, Surendra Chowdhary and Narne Ramakrishna. Jyotsna is wife of Sanjay Srivastava, who is in the Arthur road jail along with his accomplice Kaluram Chowdhary in a case initiated by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in which 13 kg of MD was seized.

The DRI said that the recent haul of MD from Tarapur was also being masterminded by Sanjay and Kaluram. “Jyotsna was running the factory while Dhananjay was looking after day-to-day operations. Ramakrishna was the chemist who supervised the actual procedure while Surendra is an associate of Kaluram,” said the officer.

Ramakrishna was allegedly paid Rs20 lakh for his expertise. He is an accused in a 2015 drug case and was absconding.

Literature and handwritten notes on manufacturing of mephedrone were recovered from Ramakrishna, added the agency. They also recovered Rs2 Lakh from the residence of Jyotsna.

In February 2016, Mephedrone was banned in India and was brought under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

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