Arrest of drug racket mastermind snowballs into political issue in Maharashtra

A sensational multi-crore drug racket expose and arrest of mastermind Lalit Patil has snowballed into a major political issue in Maharashtra with the BJP-Shiv Sena combine and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) trading charges against each other.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is the state Home Minister, said Lalit Patil was the Shiv Sena’s Nashik district President in 2020 at a time when Uddhav Thackeray was the Chief Minister.

“After his arrest, a local court gave 14 days’ police custody to Patil but he was immediately admitted to Sassoon Hospital in Pune. He spent 14 days in the hospital with no interrogation taking place. The government did not file an application asking for his examination by the medical board, nor was an extension sought for his police custody… thereafter he was sent to 14 days’ judicial custody. If there was no interrogation, how can there be a conviction,” Fadnavis said.

To a question, Fadnavis responded, “You may decide now whose narco test needs to be done.”

The statement comes at a time when Thackeray’s close aide and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut staged a morcha in Nashik to make the city drug-free and a day after Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushma Andhare demanded the arrest of Shiv Sena ministers Dada Bhuse and Shambhuraj Desai.

“Patil has claimed that he was allowed to flee from the hospital. There should be a narco test of Dada Bhuse and Shambhuraj Desai, along with Lalit Patil. The investigation should be handed over to the central agencies. The racket could not have run without political patronage,” Andhare said. While Desai is the state Excise Minister, Bhuse hails from Nashik and is the district guardian minister.

Seventeen people have been arrested so far in connection with the case. Lalit Patil, an inmate of Yerawada Jail, escaped from Sassoon General Hospital on October 2, where he was admitted for treatment of hernia and tuberculosis. He was arrested by Mumbai Police a few days ago from a hotel located between Bengaluru and Chennai. Patil is accused of selling mephedrone (MD) that was prepared in a drug manufacturing unit at Shinde village at MIDC in Nashik since December 2022. On October 10, Pune police arrested Lalit Patil’s brother Bhushan Patil and his associate Abhishek Balkawade from the Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh.