Gang of 8 dealing in MD tried to start production, nabbed

Pune: The Wagholi police have arrested eight men, including a chemical engineer, for trading and possessing mephedrone (MD), who also sold the drug in the city and planned to start a production unit in and around Pune, they added.In the one month, the police have seized mephedrone drugs worth Rs 45.60 lakh and three four-wheelers, including a luxury car, worth Rs 70.40 lakh from them.A team comprising senior inspector Nandkumar Gaikwad, inspector Pallavi Meher, and assistant inspector Vijay Chandan arrested the eight men from different parts of the city and the district.Deputy commissioner of police (Zone VII) Somay Munde told TOI, "We have arrested a chemical engineer, Vipinkumar Shriramsagar Pandit (54) of Andheri. He knows how to make MD. He was arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in 2016 and he was in the prison till Jan 2025."The police have identified the other arrested suspects as Anis Sayyed (28) of Manjari, Hari Uttam Ufade (35) of Wagholi, Sumit Ashok Ghule (41) of Manjari, Pratik alias Sonyabapu Hole (31) of Lonikand, Hrishikesh Yenbhar (29) of Shirur, Ramniwas Ranuram Bishnoi (25) of Mundhwa but a native of Rajasthan and Akash Dhawale (26) of Shirur."Bishnoi was supplying the MD to the gang," Munde said. On April 16, the police made the first arrests when they nabbed Sayyed and Ufade, who visited the Wagholi area to deliver the MD drugs. "While probing further, the duo revealed the names of the others involved in the racket and then Ghule, Hole and the others were caught," he said.The probe revealed that Ghule, Dhawale, Bishnoi, and Pandit were the prime suspects in the case. They used a high-end car, owned by Ghule, and two other cars to deliver the drugs to their customers from Nagar Road areas, Munde added.Chandan told TOI, "Ghule, who was arrested in a murder case, and Pandit, who was arrested by the DRI, met in Yerawada Central Prison and became friends. After securing bails last year, they decided to trade drugs. It was Pandit who insisted that they should operate a small MD production unit to make better profits. They wanted to start the unit in a flat."Bishnoi was supplying MD to the gang members and told the police that he had bought the drug from a person in Rajasthan. "We recovered 62g of the banned substance from him," Chandan said.