Pune : Chargesheet against drug trafficker Lalit Patil, 13 others detained in connection with mephedrone conspiracy

The Mephedrone cartel is suspected of being run by drug racketeer Lalit Anil Patil (37), of Nashik, and his “gang leader,” 39-year-old Mumbai resident Arvind Kumar Prakash Chand Lahore. The Pune city police filed a 3,150-page chargesheet against Patil and Lohare on Friday. Before a special court handling cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), the police filed the chargesheet.

In addition to Lalit and Lohare, the other 12 accused in the case are: Lalit’s brother Bhushan Patil (34), his close friend and lawyer Pradnya Kamble (39), Abhishekh Balkawade (31), Jishan Shaikh (33), Shivaji Shinde (40) of Nashik; Amit Saha alias Subhash Mandal (29) of Dehuroad, a Jharkhand native; Rauf Shaikh of Tadiwala road, Pune; Rehan Ansari alias Golu (26) of Mumbai, a native of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh (UP); Rahul Pandit alias Rohitkumar Chaudhary (30) alias Amit Kumar of Virar in Mumbai, a Bihar native; and three wanted accused, Samadhan Kamble of Nashik, Imran Shaikh alias Amir Khan and Harishchandra Pant of Mumbai.

According to police, Lohare, who originally lived in Uttar Pradesh but later moved to Mumbai, holds an “MSc Chemistry” degree. Before he is accused of leading a drug cartel, Lohare is said to have worked for a number of chemical companies.

According to sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the Pimpri Chinchwad police first detained Lohare, Lalit Patil, and twenty other people in connection with a large-scale mephedrone seizure case that was filed at the Chakan police station in October 2020. Lalit frequently succeeded in getting himself admitted to Sassoon Hospital for “treatment,” according to police, despite the fact that all arrested accused, including those in this case, were detained at Pune’s Yerwada jail after that.

Subhash Mandal was apprehended by the Pune city police on September 30, 2023, in the vicinity of Sassoon Hospital, for possessing mephedrone valued at Rs 2.14 crore. An investigation found that Lalit Patil, who was subsequently admitted to Sassoon Hospital’s ward number 16 for the treatment of a “hernia,” allegedly gave his assistant Mandal the mephedrone via hospital canteen employee Rauf Shaikh.