Seven arrested in inter-state mephedrone racket from Pune & Rajasthan

Pune: The city police arrested seven men, including two Wagholi-based gift shopkeepers, between Feb 3 and 11 this year, for buying and selling the mephedrone drug. Mephedrone and vehicles, including a high-end SUV, worth a total of Rs4.27 crore were recovered from the arrested individuals. The confiscated property includes 1.96kg of mephedrone along with cash, mobile phones, and vehicles.
A team headed by deputy commissioners of police (DCPs) Nikhil Pingale and Somay Munde arrested the suspects, identified as Motisingh Rajpurohit (28) and Harish Ramdevasi (22), both of whom run different gift shops in Wagholi, Amit Sunil Ghule (40) of Manjari in Pune, Yogesh alias Manish Bishnoi (30), Sachin alias SK Bishnoi (20) and Ramkaran Jat alias Siyag, all residents of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, and Ratanlal Kisnaram Jat (20) of Balotra in Rajasthan. Pune city police said the drug racket was operational in Maharashtra and Rajasthan. They said one of the suspects brought the drugs to Pune for sale from the other state. "Ramkaran Jat is the main supplier of mephedrone in Pune. While probing two other cases involving this drug, we came across his name and began searching for him," said Pingale. Munde elaborated, "It started on Feb 3, when our team nabbed the duo who own the gift shops in a car in Kharadi. The team checked the car and found mephedrone worth Rs12.41 lakh. Following this, a case was registered with the Kharadi police against the two under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985." He added, "We decided to establish the entire link of the drug racket. Our team started questioning them, and the duo revealed the name of Yogesh Bishnoi. Soon, our team nabbed him. In this way, we went on arresting other suspects in the case and finally managed to nab Ramkaran Jat." According to Munde, "Our team seized drugs from each of the arrested individuals. We nabbed Ghule, a smalltime builder from the Hadapsar-Manjari area, and seized his high-end SUV. He used it to sell drugs among known people." Shopkeeper turns drug dealer Ramkaran Jat runs a grocery shop in his village, Kapooriya, near Jodhpur, said the police. Munde said, "He runs the shop but is actively involved in drug trading. He collects drugs from different people in Rajasthan and sends these to Pune. We suspect that he might be selling drugs in other cities as well. We have come across his involvement in two other mephedrone cases at present. So far, the source of the drugs is not known."