Police have booked head constable Dharmaraj Kalokhe after the seizure of 12 kgs of mephedrone drug from his personal cupboard inside a police station here.
On Monday, Satara Police seized 110 kgs of mephedrone drug, whose market value runs into "crores of rupees", from the residence of Kalokhe in Satara district and subsequently arrested him.
Meanwhile, a team of Satara police has reached Mumbai to unravel the drug trail.Drug mephedrone, popularly known as meow-meow and M- Cat, was seized from Kalokhe's residence in a village under Khandala taluka in Satara of Western Maharashtra, around 450 kms from Mumbai.
Yesterday, officials of Mumbai Police inspected the locked cupboard of Kalokhe at Marine Drive police station where he is posted and discovered 12 white crystal translucent, which appears to be mephedrone, and Rs 30,000 cash.
The seized substance has been sent to forensic laboratory for examination to confirm if it is mephedrone.
"However, prima facie it is mephedrone and hence an FIR has been registered against Kalokhe at Marine Drive police station under relevant sections of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act last night," Additional Police Commissioner, Krishna Prakash, told PTI today.
One kg of mephedrone drug costs Rs 20 lakh.Kalokhe kept his cupboard locked all the time, police said.Satara Superintendent of police, Abhinav Deshmukh said, "Our investigation team is in Mumbai. We suspect the constable could be part of a larger ring involved in the drugs supply."
Investigators said Kalokhe had managed to hoodwink Anti-Narcotics Wings over a period of time as he himself is a cop.
He is suspected to have been running the drug business from the police station itself, they said.
"Now we are hot on trail to uncover the drug network which might have spread over different parts of the state or even outside Maharashtra," said an officer on condition of anonymity.
Ironically, Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria had launched a special drive to crackdown on drug peddlers in the city soon after taking reins of the department in February last year, but the incident left him red-faced.
The constable now faces dismissal from service.Maria, has ordered an inquiry into the matter and also directed his colleague Krishna Prakash to take action against the constable under article 311 (2) of the Indian constitution.
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