Three including two women arrested for 'helping' drug case accused Lalit Patil

Pune: Three persons, including two women, have been arrested for allegedly helping drug case accused Lalit Patil escape from a government-run hospital in Pune, police said on Thursday.

Archana Nikam and Pradnya Kamble, both residents of Nashik, were arrested by the Pune police's crime branch and produced in a court on Thursday, an official said here. The court remanded them in police custody till October 23.

Elsewhere, Sakinaka police in Mumbai arrested Sachin Raosaheb Wagh (30) who was allegedly with Patil during the time the latter was on the run after escaping on October 2.

Seeking the custody of the two women, Pune Police told the court that they used to meet Patil when he was admitted to the Sassoon hospital here, and during these visits, they hatched a plan of his escape.

The women gave Patil Rs 25 lakh when he landed in Nashik after his escape, police claimed.

Patil, first arrested by Pune police last year in a drug case and admitted to the hospital for treatment of TB three months ago, escaped on October 2.

He was arrested by a team of Sakinaka police, who are probing a Rs 300 crore mephedrone seizure case in which he is a prime accused, from Bengaluru on Tuesday night.

The Sakinaka police on Thursday arrested Sachin Wagh from a hotel in Chenna Sendra area of Bengaluru. When Patil was arrested from his room at the same hotel, Wagh was not there, and he was picked up later, said an official.

Wagh would be produced before a court on Friday, he added.

While on the run, Wagh and Patil traveled in a Scorpio SUV and would take turns in the driver's seat, the official said.

Pune Police had on Wednesday interrogated Shivaji Shinde and Rohit Choudhary who were earlier arrested by Sakinaka police, he said.

Shinde allegedly used to supply chemicals for a drug manufacturing unit run by Patil and Chaudhary was working with him, the official said.

Mumbai Police on Thursday submitted a production warrant before the Pune court, seeking the custody of Lalit's brother Bhushan Patil and his associate Abhishek Balkawade. Both are wanted in the Sakinaka drug haul case and their police custody in Pune is ending on Friday, the official said.

According to Yogesh Gholap, former Shiv Sena MLA from Nashik, Lalit Patil was associated with the Republican Party of India many years ago, and later with the Shiv Sena.

"He had even campaigned for me. He used to meet Shiv Sena leaders from time to time, but we had no clue about his business activities," said Gholap, who now belongs to the Sena faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, while talking to reporters.