Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The Crime Branch of the city police has arrested two agency owners for allegedly supplying codeine syrup across the entire Marathwada region. Police seized 18,360 bottles of codeine syrup, a vehicle, and a mobile phone, all worth Rs 77.44 lakh, from Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Gujarat.
Accused Kalpesh Chandulal Agarwal (38, Padmanabhnagar, Dhule), a school peon from Dhule, was reportedly smuggling pills and codeine syrup from MP and Gujarat to Marathwada.
After the racket came to light, police formed four special teams that raided locations in MP and Gujarat and arrested two agency operators, Durgesh Sitaram Rawat (54, Indore) and Dharmendra, alias Gopal Khemchand Prajapati (32, Ahmedabad).
The police seized 18,360 bottles of syrup stored illegally. Notably, Agarwal was purchasing each bottle for Rs 55 (against the original price of Rs 175) and selling them to addicts for up to Rs 350. Police Commissioner Praveen Pawar has initiated a probe to dismantle the syndicate behind this eight-year-old drug network. The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC), Crime Branch, and a special team are jointly continuing operations in this regard.
A team led by Crime Branch Inspector Sambhaji Pawar, along with APIs Ravikant Gachche and Vinayak Shelke, arrested Agarwal and Syed Nabi (33, Waluj) red-handed on October 9. A hidden packet containing 100 pills was seized from their car. The Crime Branch thus succeeded in busting a major racket allegedly run for the past eight years by Syed Nabi Syed Lal and Dnyaneshwar Manohar Yadav, alias Mauli (Jaybhawaninagar).
4 teams seize 18K bottles in two days
Investigations revealed that Agarwal ordered the stock from Rawat and Prajapati. Transactions worth several lakhs were made between them through bank accounts over four months.
On the instructions of Police Commissioner Praveen Pawar and Deputy Commissioner Ratnakar Navale, Senior PI Sambhaji Pawar formed four teams. Within two days, these teams raided godowns in Indore and Ahmedabad and discovered 18,360 unaccounted bottles. Both accused were arrested following the seizure.
Tablets worth Rs 15K ordered in five months
Agarwal has been active in the illegal trade since 2017. He and Nabi were earlier arrested in 2018. To procure medicines, Agarwal used a fake drug licence prepared in the name of a friend from Surat and placed orders through travel and courier services in Dhule. Without verification, Prajapati and Rawat supplied him with the medicines. In the past five months alone, Agarwal had ordered pills worth Rs 12,000–Rs 15,000 and supplied nearly 800 bottles in the city every week.
Police team involved in operation
Senior PI Sambhaji Pawar, APIs Ravikant Gachche, Vinayak Shelke, Dnyaneshwar Ajmal, and Sanjay Bahure, PSI Sandeep Kale, and others participated in the operation.