Nashik court remands drug kingpin Lalit Patil and three others in police custody till Dec 18

A court in Nashik on Saturday remanded drug racketeer Lalit Patil and three others arrested in connection with a multi-crore mephedrone seizure case until December 18.

The Nashik police took custody of Patil, Rohit Chaudhari, Zeeshan Sheikh, and Harish Pant on Friday night, bringing them to the city from Mumbai’s Arthur Road jail before placing them under arrest. The four, along with another accused, Shivaji Shinde, were produced in the Nashik District and Sessions Court. After hearing arguments from the government and defence lawyers, the court remanded Patil, Chaudhari, Sheikh, and Pant in police custody until December 18. Shinde was sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

Patil is considered the kingpin of a drug racket busted by the Sakinaka police in Mumbai during a two-month-long operation, involving the seizure of mephedrone worth about Rs 300 crore and a raid at a drug manufacturing unit in Nashik.

The case took a new turn after Patil, initially in Pune’s Yerawada prison for his role in another drug case but admitted to the Sassoon Hospital, escaped on October 2 while being taken for X-ray imaging. He was arrested in Karnataka two weeks later.

Following the Mumbai police action in Nashik, the local police seized mephedrone and chemicals worth Rs 5.8 crore during a raid. A case was registered against Patil and others, and their remand was sought. Over two dozen persons have been arrested in connection with the case so far.