After spending over 3 months in Kerala jail, Kalangutkar who was arrested by Kochi police gets bail
ABOUT KALANGUTKAR
* Picked up by Kochi police from Mapusa in May in connection with drug supplies
* Arrested for being a supplier of assorted ‘high-end' drugs worth Rs 85-lakh
* Kerala excise officials flew in to the state on April 27 to effect the arrest
* Gets bail after having been behind bars for three and a half months in Kerala
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WAR OF WORDS
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GOA POLICE
Claims Kalangutkar to be their informant with accurate tip-offs of happenings in the narcotics trade
KOCHI POLICE
Claims Kalangutkar was the biggest supplier between Goa and Kerala with global drug mafia links
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The case of alleged drug lord Deepak Kalangutkar, who was picked up by the Kochi police from Mapusa in May in connection with drug supplies could catch the Goa police on the wrong foot.
While Goa police went to town claiming that this Kalangutkar was their informant in drug-related cases with accurate tip-offs of happenings in the narcotics trade, the Kochi police had a different story to tell stating that he was the biggest drug supplier between Goa and Kerala.
Kalangutkar who was arrested by the Excise Division of the Kochi Police has been granted bail after having been behind bars for three and a half months.
Kalangutkar's representatives informed The Goan, that while he has been granted bail, he will be released in the coming days as he seeks to complete bail formalities including furnishing sureties etc.
The Kerala Excise Department had arrested Kalangutkar, an alleged Goan drug peddler, for being a supplier of assorted ‘high-end' drugs worth Rs 85-lakh, with the Kochi police claiming that he was the biggest drug supplier between Goa and Kerala with international drug mafia links.
The arrest was effected after a team of Kerala excise officials flew in to the state on April 27 with an arrest warrant and effected the arrest on the evening of May 1 after which he was remanded to custody by a court in Ernakulam, Kerala.
Kalangutkar, was later revealed to be an informant of the Goa Police and sources in the anti narcotic cell have informed in the past helped the Goa Police provided accurate tip-offs of happenings in the narcotics trade, based on which the police have been able to effect several raids and arrests concerning the drug trade in the state. Interestingly, the ANC doesn't have any clues of Kalangutkar's direct involvement in drug trade in Goa.
Kalangutkar, who runs a bar and restaurant at Vagator has however not been on the police radar for being a drug supplier within Goa itself raising questions over whether the Goa Police have turned a blind eye to his activities owing to the fact that he was their informant.
The Goa Police have been at the receiving end of several political outbursts with Goa Forward supremo, Vijai Sardesai, Calangute MLA Michael Lobo and Siolim MLA Vinoda Paliencar all blaming "corrupt police officers" for allowing the drug trade to continue in the state.
The police for their part have claimed that they will take action even against their own force if it is found that they are negligent in their duties or actively promoting the drug trade.
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TOFFEE-SHAPED DRUGS WERE
HEADED FOR GOA RAVE PARTY
Close aide of Calvin Mascarehas arrested in Andhra capital
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NARCOTICS CRACKDOWN
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HUGE LEAP BY HYDERABAD POLICE
* On Monday, the Hyderabad Police arrested four persons including a close aide of Calvin Mascarenchas, the kingpin of drug racket in Hyderabad
* Hyderabad Police also seized drugs shaped like toffees which were meant to be shipped to a rave party in Goa on Independence Day
* A report in an English daily said that one of the arrested accused, a Nigerian was sourcing drugs from Goa and two other cities to peddle them in Hyderabad
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MAPUSA: ven as Goa Police appear to be laying their hands on small fries while attempting a crackdown on the narcotics trade in the State, Hyderabad Police was taking giant strides in arresting the big fish in the trade.
On Monday, the Hyderabad Police arrested four persons including a close aide of Calvin Mascarenchas, the kingpin of drug racket in Hyderabad.
Further, the Hyderabad Police also seized drugs shaped like toffees which were meant to be shipped to a rave party in Goa on Independence Day, reports in national media said.
A report in Deccan Chronicle said that one of the arrested accused, a Nigerian, Ajah Gabriel Ogbona was sourcing drugs from Goa and two other cities to peddle them in Hyderabad.
The national media report also highlighted the fact that Goa appeared to be a safe haven for drug lords.
The close aide of Calvin Mascarenhas, accused, Nooka Navnath who was arrested on Monday, had earlier fled to Goa, soon after Mascarenhas's arrest some time back, and stayed in a rented house in Anjuna Beach and operated from there.
He was supplying cocaine, amphetamine pills, heroin, MDMA, LSDs and weed in Goa and Hyderabad.
Another report in One India news portal said that the four arrested persons were inter-state suppliers who handled transportation of narcotics to Telangana and Goa.
What was interesting in the case was that the drug peddlers in Hyderabad used international numbers and encrypted WhatsApp messages to escape from police scanner, the news portal further said.
