Nagpur peanut seller turned alleged MD drug kingpin held in Rameswaram, Rs 1.40 crore haul seized

Nagpur: Vishal alias Fallee Gupta, who once made a living from a peanut cart at Kharbi Chowk, has emerged in a police investigation as the key figure in an alleged large mephedrone (MD) trafficking network. The crime branch has scored a major success in dismantling the network, which is said to have been active for about six years.

What began as a drug trade of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 had spread from Nagpur to several districts of Vidarbha. Fallee had begun travelling in luxury cars and spending lakhs of rupees on a lavish lifestyle. Police recovered jewellery and a diary from his hideout. Using the names and details recorded in the diary, they are now working to unravel the alleged drug empire.

Fallee's family is said to have roots in Uttar Pradesh. His father still earns a living by selling fingers. Fallee studied up to Class 10 before turning to crime, and had been involved in criminal activity for a decade. More than 18 cases are registered against him, including murder, attempt to murder and extortion. After building a reign of fear in the area through crime, he allegedly entered the MD trade. Residents hesitated to speak openly against him, and he used this to expand his network.

Seeing the large profits in MD trafficking, Fallee began expanding the business. Initially he procured consignments of MD from Madhya Pradesh. He later widened his supply network by building contacts with other alleged traffickers, including Bhupendra Singh of Rajasthan. Police are now looking for answers to how the trade ran for so many years, the routes by which MD reached Nagpur, who the buyers were and how many more people were involved.

Fallee is named as the mastermind of the firing on Congress corporator Shubham Motghare. Action was taken against Fallee and his associates under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in that case. He was jailed under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act in 2025, and his network was expected to weaken. After coming out of jail, however, he revived the MD trade and strengthened the network further. He had been trafficking MD with the help of Aniket alias Anni Bihare, Shubham alias Doraemon Narwariya and Kunal Samudre.

After Fallee went absconding, the crime branch had been digging into his background, and during that probe the alleged MD network came to light. On October 24, police arrested Fallee and his girlfriend Saheli Pandhram in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. Police also raided a flat in Beltarodi and arrested Annu, Shubham alias Doraemon Narwariya, Krishna Verma, Toofan Singh Sisodia, Rahul Gond and Kunal Samudre. They recovered 1,405 gm of MD worth Rs 1.40 crore from the flat.

The jewellery and diary found at Fallee's hideout have given the probe a new turn. Police are now examining Fallee's old associates and others linked to the alleged network on the basis of the names and details in the diary. The biggest question before investigators is whether Fallee was the lone big face of the entire operation or whether others were active behind him. Police are trying to connect the links from MD supply to distribution and the flow of money. Clues from the diary could bring many unseen faces of the alleged empire into view.

The lifestyle of Fallee's associates has also become an important aspect of the probe. According to police, criminals linked to his network had begun living lavishly, with expensive vehicles and costly habits, within a short time. Kunal Samudre, who joined Fallee only recently, was the one who moved around in a luxury vehicle and told people he ran a DJ business. How far Fallee, once a peanut seller at Kharbi Chowk, went through MD trafficking will become fully clear only after the investigation. For now, the crime branch action has dealt a major blow to the alleged drug trade. Attention is now on Fallee's diary, financial transactions and the names that could open up the next links in the network.