Nagpur Police bust MD drug gang, seize Rs 1.54 crore haul, fake note printing material in five cases

Nagpur Police on Monday announced breakthroughs in five separate investigations. Arrests have been made and a large quantity of property seized in all the cases: an MD (mephedrone) drug trafficking gang, a suspected case of printing currency notes, an armed robbery in a home, a loot at a jewellery shop and an attack on an 82-year-old woman. Police also said they have new leads on alleged criminal networks spread beyond the state's borders.

At a press conference at the Nagpur city police commissionerate on October 26, Police Commissioner Vishwas Nangare Patil briefed the media on the action taken by various police stations and Crime Branch teams. Joint Commissioner Navinchandra Reddy, Deputy Commissioner (Crime) Deepak Agrawal, Assistant Commissioner Vaibhav Jadhav and other senior officers were present.

The first operation took place in the Beltarodi area. Crime Branch Unit-5 raided Vijaya Apartment in Narendra Nagar and seized 1.405 kg of mephedrone (MD), cash, mobile phones, vehicles and other items, together worth Rs 1,54,50,700. Specific information about MD trafficking was received at about 4.20 pm on October 24. A raid was then carried out in the presence of panch witnesses on a third-floor flat in a building near Bharat Petroleum on Ring Road.

Five men were found there: Aniket alias Annu Bihare, Tufansingh Sisodia, Krishna alias Pehelwan Verma, Rahul alias Bhaiyya Gond and Shubham alias Doraemon Narwariya. Police said they seized 1,405 grams of MD powder, six mobile phones, Rs 3,44,700 in cash, a Hyundai Verna car, four two-wheelers and an electronic weighing scale. Police suspect the drugs were brought from Rajasthan and distributed to small sellers in Nagpur. Police say the supply was run on the instructions of Vishal alias Fallu Prithvilal Gupta, who was already wanted in the firing at the house of Congress corporator Shubham Motghare in Bhandewadi. Police also mentioned the arrest of Kunal Dashrath Mamudre and other suspects; the exact number of accused in the case and their roles are being examined.

On the basis of technical surveillance and confidential information, Crime Branch Unit-5 traced Gupta to Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. Police said he had been changing locations to avoid arrest. He was detained along with a woman named Saheli Pandharam alias Sanu. Both were produced before a local court, and a transit remand was obtained to bring them to Nagpur. He is alleged to have played a central role in the firing at Motghare's house in Shravan Nagar, Bhandewadi. He was wanted in an attempt to murder case in which MCOCA has been invoked. Cases of murder, attempt to murder, organised crime and under the NDPS Act are registered against him. The arrest is expected to help trace the source, suppliers and buyers of the seized drugs.

The second operation was carried out by Wathoda Police. In a rented house in the Threestar Co-operative Society area, they found paper printed with designs resembling Rs 500 Indian notes and printing equipment. The seized material has been valued at Rs 37,83,600. The landlord, Ramesh Gangadhar Harde, had been unable to contact the first-floor tenant, Pushpam Krishna Bandane (29), despite two months of unpaid rent. He went to the house on October 24. When there was no answer to his knocking, he opened the door with a second key and saw paper resembling Rs 500 notes lying on the sofa. He informed the police.

The search turned up an Asus laptop, an Epson colour printer, two paper cutters, bottles of coloured ink, blank paper and sheets printed with note-like designs. Some sheets were printed on both sides and others on one side only. The face value of the sheets printed on both sides is estimated at about Rs 37 lakh, and of those printed on one side at about Rs 48 lakh. These figures reflect the value in the printed design and do not prove that counterfeit notes of that amount were actually produced. A case has been registered under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and police are investigating what the material was to be used for, whether any finished notes entered circulation and whether anyone else is involved.

The third operation was in Gittikhadan. An armed robbery took place at a house in Friends Colony on the night of October 23. Six people have been arrested and a minor has been detained. At about 12.30 am, Saumya Subramanyam Paluru (38) was sleeping with her 14-year-old son at Purva Residency in Netaji Co-operative Society. Four to five men entered by the staircase leading to the upper floor, threatened them with knives and other weapons and asked where the money was. When the woman said there was no money and they could search the house if they wanted, two of the men shouted. One grabbed the boy by the throat. They took two mobile phones worth about Rs 60,000 and tried to snatch the boy's gold chain. When people raised an alarm, they fled through the gallery.

Police traced the accused using CCTV footage from the area and confidential information. Those arrested are Sumet alias Chhota Somkuwar, Akash Meshram, Bhushan Alone, Nikhil Dubey, Piyush Goswami and Shaikh Tauheed alias Yedabhai. Police allege that Sumet had worked for about four years as an office boy in the woman's husband's office and knew that the husband sometimes brought office cash home. Police suspect the robbery was planned after he learnt, six to seven days before the incident, that a large sum was in the house. Property worth Rs 2,60,200, including two mobile phones, the vehicle used in the crime and other items, is reported to have been recovered.

In the fourth case, MIDC Police arrested another absconding accused in the robbery at Dhomane Jewellers on Hingna Road. Gold and silver jewellery worth about Rs 40 lakh was taken in the robbery. He is Guptkil Munir Ahmed (34). Several accused were caught earlier in the case, and property worth Rs 53.75 lakh has been seized so far. Between 4.40 pm and 4.55 pm on October 3, four unidentified men entered the shop opposite Mahakali Bar. Shubham Hadge, an employee of owner Rakesh Subhash Dhomane, was there. Showing a gun-like object, threatening to kill and beating him, they fled with about 350 grams of gold and silver jewellery.

MIDC Police and the Crime Branch investigated in parallel. The accused were traced through technical analysis, verification with the help of artificial intelligence and coordination with the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana police. Abhishek Singh Thakur, Jairam alias Joginder Thakur, Shubhankit Chaturvedi and Rajan Sami Sharma had been arrested earlier. Police recovered 165 grams of gold sold to jewellers in Uttar Pradesh and 70 grams of silver from another jeweller. The seized property includes three mobile phones, a Kia car, a black Mahindra Thar, a Toyota Fortuner, a Pulsar motorcycle and jewellery.

In the fifth case, Crime Branch Unit-2 arrested Clement alias Rohit Eugene Pillay (35) of Kirad Layout in Mankapur. He is linked to an attack on an 82-year-old woman in the Sadar police station area. The incident took place at about 9.30 pm on October 16 near Alex Mechanical Works on Kamptee Road, near Gaddigodam. Hilda Alexander Anthony was at home when a man aged 25 to 30 rang the doorbell. When she opened the door, the man, his face covered with a cloth, struck her on the head with a wooden stick. Her screams woke family members on the upper floor and the attacker fled. The injured woman was taken to Kingsway Hospital.

The Crime Branch identified and detained the suspect through technical investigation. Police said he admitted involvement in the attack during questioning. Further questioning revealed five cases relating to theft, house-breaking, robbery and molestation. These include a theft in the Sadar area, a house-breaking in Mankapur, and a robbery and molestation in the Gittikhadan area. Pillay was arrested and handed over to Sadar Police for further legal action. His involvement in other crimes is being examined.

Police said all five cases were investigated by different police stations and Crime Branch teams using technical surveillance, CCTV footage, confidential information, digital evidence and coordination with police in other states. The MD seizure and Gupta's arrest are expected to allow further investigation of the drug supply chain and the Bhandewadi firing. The charges against those arrested are subject to investigation and court proceedings.