A suspended Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) has emerged as a mastermind behind a drug racket sitting right in the Nagpur Central Prison.
Suspended PSI Pradeep Kumar Nitnawne was among seven others arrested by Nagpur Crime Branch on Tuesday including Nitnawne’s brother Sachin who is a constable with tehsil police, Suraj Kawale, his brother Shubham, their friend Suraj Waghmare, Bhagirath Khardayal, Atharva Khatakhati, Moreshwar Sonawane and Mukesh Naidu alias Baba.
The racket was busted when an MCOCA accused was busted by a prison constable for smuggling ganja (Marijuana) and mobile phone batteries into the jail.
On Tuesday, Central Jail authorities conducted four-hour-long searches in different barracks.
According to police, PSI Nitnawne was suspended in July after being booked under rape charges by Sitabuldi police.
Elaborating on the role of PSI Nitnawne in the drug trafficking case, police said that a mobile phone was in possession of Suraj Kawle.
PSI and Kawle were in the same barrack of the jail and Nitawne was using the phone in the jail secretly and speaking to his relatives and friends.
PSI Nitawne made a call after which Rs 45,000 were delivered to Kawale’s friend in Nagpur. The cash was then used to purchase ganja and mobile phone batteries.
On Monday Kawale’s brother, Shubham Kawle and Bhagirath Thardayal posed as his attorney gave him a file to Suraj Kawle when he was produced in the court. When Kawle returned to the jail at 1.30 pm he was carrying a file of documents in his hand. When he was entering the jail from the main entrance gate Prison authority grew suspicious of it due to the weight of the file.
Upon checking the file, three packets of Ganja a total of 51 gram were hidden between two pages in the file and the pages were pasted along with 15 batteries. The material was seized by the Dhantoli police.
