Maharashtra govt hiding information about drug unit raid in Satara, claims Cong; questions 'secrecy'

Mumbai, Dec 13 (PTI) Congress leaders in Maharashtra on Saturday accused the state government of suppressing information about the Mumbai police's raid at a mephedrone manufacturing unit in Satara district, and demanded the home department to bring details of the operation before the public.

State Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal said the Mumbai crime branch conducted the raid at Savari village in Satara recently.

In a statement, he said the crime branch arrested two drug traffickers on December 9, who disclosed during interrogation that they had sourced mephedrone from a Pune-based man, identified as Vishal More. Acting on the inputs, police arrested More on December 12 from Pimpri Chinchwad area with two kilograms of the banned drug.

More later told the investigators that he was manufacturing mephedrone at Savari village in Jaoli taluka of Satara. A subsequent raid allegedly led police to a cattle shed where a makeshift unit for manufacturing the drug was operating. Three workers from West Bengal were arrested from the spot, Sapkal said.

The Congress leader claimed the premises belonged to a person named Govind Shimkar and had been rented out to More through a local resident.

The food was being supplied to the workers from Tejas Lodge in Savari village, which is owned by a Shiv Sena corporator from Thane, Sapkal claimed.

He questioned the "secrecy" surrounding the raid and the presence of senior Mumbai crime branch officials and the Satara Superintendent of Police at the site. He also sought to know whether the land involved had any links to people close to the ruling dispensation.

"The government appears to be suppressing facts. The home department must make a clear and transparent disclosure," Sapkal said.

State Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant also alleged that there was an attempt to suppress the case.

Though around 43 people were allegedly employed in the drug manufacturing unit, only three workers have been shown as arrested so far, he said.

There is an attempt to downplay the scale of the operation, Sawant said, and demanded immediate and strict action irrespective of political proximity or influence.

Police officials were not immediately available for comment on the allegations. PTI MR NP