Promising stern action against all those involved in the Lalit Patil drug kingpin case, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on December 12 said that “all the threads” in the drug racket would be thoroughly probed.
Speaking in the Legislative Council, Mr. Fadnavis, the State Home Minister, also expressed concern over the alarming rise in drug-related activities over Instagram. The social media platform had turned into a marketplace for illicit substances, he said.
Mr. Fadnavis was responding to a query posed by Sachin Ahir, a leader of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction, who raised the issue of the Lalit Patil drug racket, demanding a “narco-test” be conducted on the incarcerated Patil, and the removal and arrest of Sanjiv Thakur from the post of Dean of the Sassoon Hospital in Pune (where Patil was being treated prior to his escape in October this year).
“While I cannot name names about who will be arrested in this case, but let me assure you that no one connected with this racket will escape stern punishment. We are fully probing all threads in this case,” said Mr. Fadnavis.
Patil had emerged as the kingpin of a ₹300 crore drug racket busted by the Mumbai Police in October this year, which included the seizure of mephedrone and a raid at a drug manufacturing unit in Nashik.
Patil had been first arrested in connection with a multi-crore mephedrone racket busted by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Police in October 2020. He was then sent to Pune’s Yerawada Central Prison, but was admitted to Sassoon Hospital for the treatment of hernia and tuberculosis.
On September 30 this year, the Pune Police had arrested one Subhash Mandal, said to be Patil’s aide, from near the hospital premises, with over 1.71 kg of mephedrone worth ₹2.14 crore. Officials had alleged that Patil had supplied the drug to Mandal through a staff member of the Sassoon Hospital canteen.
However, Patil fled from the hospital while he was being taken for an X-ray on October 2, before being finally nabbed by the Mumbai Police on October 17 from Karnataka. Further probe pointed to the complicity of higher authorities in the hospital, with the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance demanding the removal of the Dean of Sassoon Hospital.
Mr. Fadnavis responded to queries from a number of MVA leaders, including Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Ambadas Danve, on drug rackets in the State. “Instagram has emerged as the drug marketplace where orders are being placed, payments are made through GPay, and UPI and deliveries are being done. But we have taken some decisive measures in this regard. Courier companies have been urged to scrutinise parcels while surprise checks are being conducted at courier offices to curb the drug trade,” Mr. Fadnavis said.
He said that the government had initiated action against 172 Nigerian nationals involved in drug-related offenses, while a detention centre had been established for them.
The Home Minister further said 2,369 suspicious paan shops located in the vicinity of schools and colleges in Mumbai had been removed, the authorities had also seized 38,000 e-cigarettes, and a crackdown on hookah parlours was underway.
Published - December 12, 2023 05:02 pm IST
