Nagpur MD case: diary found at alleged kingpin's house may give police new leads

A search of the house of alleged drug kingpin Vishal alias Falli Gupta on New Narsala Road in Indira Nagar, Nagpur, has turned up a diary. It could prove an important lead for the Crime Branch, which is investigating the seizure of mephedrone (MD) worth Rs 1.54 crore. Police are going through its entries for names, contact numbers and other pointers, in the hope of reaching more smugglers, local distributors and suppliers allegedly linked to Nagpur's drug trade.

Police suspect an organised supply chain that may extend beyond Maharashtra. Investigators are trying to establish whether the diary has details of those who ordered the consignments, those who took charge of the goods after they reached Nagpur, and those who distributed them onward in small quantities.

The search is part of the probe into the recovery of MD worth Rs 1.54 crore from a rented flat in Vijaya Apartment in Narendra Nagar. Five people have been arrested in that case. Police suspect that Gupta, 24, ran the network from outside Maharashtra and coordinated everyone through WhatsApp calls.

The diary has become important because its contents may yield leads beyond the five arrested. Police are checking whether it contains identifiable names, phone numbers, transaction details or anything else that can be corroborated in questioning and further investigation. The possible roles of people linked to Gupta will also be examined, as will whether the names in the diary, if any, match local distributors, middlemen, transporters or suppliers from outside the state.

However, the diary's value depends on what its entries actually show and whether they can be independently confirmed. The mere discovery of a diary does not prove anyone else's role in the alleged drug racket.

Police also found three suspected fake Aadhaar cards in the search, one of them in the name of Gupta's girlfriend. Two tolas of gold bangles were also recovered from the premises. Police will now have to check whether the cards are genuine, how they were made, and whether they were used in any activity allegedly connected to this case. The recovery of these documents alone does not prove how or for what purpose they were used.

According to police, Gupta rented the first-floor premises on New Narsala Road on September 1. Investigators are looking into the circumstances of the rental and whether the place had any link to the alleged drug trade.

Police suspect that consignments were brought to Nagpur from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, then split into smaller lots and handed to local distributors. According to the investigation, Shubham alias Doraemon Dilip Narwariya allegedly rented the Vijaya Apartment flat at Gupta's instance. Gupta is suspected of coordinating all this over WhatsApp calls while staying outside Maharashtra.

If this is established, it would reveal a model in which procurement, local storage and retail supply were handled by different people. Investigators are working to fix the exact responsibilities of those arrested and to identify others who helped move the consignments. Finding out where the seized consignment came from and who the alleged suppliers are has also become necessary. The diary may provide leads, but police will need solid evidence to establish the size of the network.

The search was carried out under the guidance of DCP (Detection) Deepak Agrawal and ACP (Crime) Vaibhav Jadhav. Senior Police Inspector Vinayak Golhe and his team conducted the operation. Crime Branch is now matching the items recovered from Gupta's house with other evidence in the MD seizure case. The aim is to find out whether those arrested were part of a larger organised network, and whether the alleged supply chain reaches other parts of Maharashtra and neighbouring states.

The key question is whether the diary can take the investigation beyond the present seizure and arrests to those allegedly involved in financing, supplying and selling the drugs. It will be useful to the Crime Branch only if its entries yield firm identification, records of conversations and details of transactions. Until these leads are firmed up, the suspected links remain under investigation, and the alleged role of those not yet identified is unproven.