The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has seized 1,175kg of party drug ketamine worth Rs 118 crore from Jalgaon and arrested six people, including an MTech from the city, on Saturday.
Powai resident Vikas Puri (42), who holds an MTech in pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals from UDCT, was the kingpin of the drug racket, said officials.
Searches at Puri’s home led to a seizure of Rs 1.2 crore. Puri owns five flats in Hiranandani, Powai, and an Audi.
The drug was meant for export to the US, Australia and England, said officials.
The arrested people were booked under the NDPS Act.
Around 70 officials of the DRI were involved in the operation carried out in Jalgaon and the city. Ketamine was being manufactured without the required licence at Rukhma Industries, Jalgaon, 400 km from the city.
Ketamine is classified as a psychotropic substance under the NDPS Act, 1985, and its manufacture requires a licence from the FDA. Import or export permit from the Central Bureau of Narcotics, Gwalior, is required.
Puri is the owner of VVC Pharma and Speciality Chemicals, Vikhroli, and has a factory the city as well as at Khed in Ratnagiri.
Officials said Puri would source orders for ketamine and ask Nitin Chinchole, owner of Rukhma Industries, to manufacture it.
They said Chinchole would then get Freshia Chemicals in Ambernath to supply him the raw material against cash payment.
Once the ketamine was ready, Puri allegedly would send an associate, Varun Tiwari, to bring the drug from the factory to the city.
Officials said the drug was concealed in a sister unit named Biosynthetics, located close to Rukhma.
Chinchole was on the run, said officials.
The DRI also arrested Gesala S. Rao, vice-president of VVC Pharma, for taking ketamine orders for Puri. Officials of the DRI said Rao recently collected Rs 50 lakh sent by his purchasers as advance payment through a hawala operator in the city for the supply of 300kg of ketamine.
Of the total seizure, 100kg was concealed in the boot of a car that was about to leave Jalgaon for the city. Another 100kg was seized from a car in Dhule. The vehicle, too, was on its way to the city.
Puri and Rao will be produced in court here Sunday. The other arrested were Kantilal S, Nityanand Tewar, Gowri Prasad Pal and Varun Tiwari. They were remanded in custody for 15 days by a court in Jalgaon.
In June 2011, officials of the DRI, Mumbai Zonal Unit, had raided Konduskar Industries Limited and seized 1,028kg of ketamine.
Source: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-12-15/mumbai/45215609_1_ketamine-jalgaon-vikas-puri
Picture Source: bbc.co.uk
