Chhota Rajan link to Mandrax haul

550kg tablets worth Rs 28 crore were seized on May 18.

The involvement of Chhota Rajan and his aide Vicky Goswami is clear in the May haul of 550 kg of Mandrax tablets worth Rs 28 crore from a farmhouse in Wada, Palghar district. So far six accused have been remanded in police custody, said Sharda Raut, superintendent of police (SP), Palghar.

On May 18, the Wada police and anti terrorist squad (ATS), Ahmedabad had raided a farmhouse in Wada and seized 550 kg of Mandrax tablets worth a staggering Rs 28 crore in the international market. Six persons including the owner of the farmhouse Vivekanand Kubal and his aide were earlier arrested. Last month, four more arrests were made including Mobin Shaikh (46), who is a resident of Mumbai. Shaikh would get the raw materials used in the manufacture of Mandrax from Hyderabad while Munna alias Shivpratap Singh (65), a resident of Valsad would oversee the manufacture, said Mrs Raut,SP. “We have also arrested one Lawrence, Kaliprasad Malhar, Sachin Vartak while three accused including Ajay alias Arvind Goswami, Sukhvinder Singh and Ashok Salian alias Anna are still absconding and are holed up in Kenya and Dubai. We have charged all the accused under Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 and the ones arrested will be in police custody till June 15,” she said.

The involvement of Chotta Rajan and his aide Vicky Goswami is clear and we are investigating further, she said. It is clear that Vicky is using an assumed name of Ajay alias Arvind and we are also probing this angle, she said. Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh is an active conduit for the smuggling of Mandrax tablets to Nepal and then to Pakistan, she added.