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Drug runner Baby Patankar lands in police net

Drug runner Shashikala alias Baby Patankar was arrested by the Social Service Branch (SSB) of city police on Wednesday. She was held for her involvement in the case wherein huge quantities of M-Cat drugs were seized from her alleged partner and police constable Dharmaraj Kalokhe last month.

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Drug runner Shashikala alias Baby Patankar was arrested by the Social Service Branch (SSB) of city police on Wednesday. She was held for her involvement in the case wherein huge quantities of M-Cat drugs were seized from her alleged partner and police constable Dharmaraj Kalokhe last month.

The case that was until now being investigated by the Marine Drive police has been reportedly handed over to Crime Branch for further probe.

"We had received specific information that Patankar is on her way to Mumbai in a luxury bus from Kudal in Konkan to meet some contact of hers. On receipt of this information, we intercepted the bus at Panvel at around 6.30 pm on Tuesday and caught her. At that time a minor girl was also present with Patankar," said a crime branch officer.

The police are questioning Patankar about her nexus with policemen. It is alleged that some policemen from Mumbai were in touch with her, and a few of them were also partners in her drug business. The police would also question Patankar how and from where she managed to procure the huge quantity of M-Cat that was seized from the Khandala residence of police constable Kalokhe in March.

Starting off as a small-time drug peddler, 50-year-old Patankar has become a known name in Mumbai's drug circuit in the past 15 years. According to police sources, in year 2000 Patankar used to deal with drug dealers from Rajasthan. "Patankar used to conceal the contraband in her stomach and smuggle it to the city via train," the sources said. From 2000 to 2002, Mumbai police registered three cases for possession of narcotics against her. Following this, Patankar changed her modus operandi of dealing in drugs and joined hands with the police department by working for them as an informer, sources said.

"Patankar had earned a bad reputation in drug circles in Rajasthan and Bhawani Mandi, Ratlam and Neemuch areas of Madhya Pradesh for getting several drug dealers in police net. She used to take the contraband from those drug dealers in order to sell them in Mumbai. After keeping the contraband for some time, she would divide it into two parts. She would keep a certain portion of the pure drugs with her and mix the other with impure substances known as taaka in narcotics jargon. She would then return the mixed contraband to the original dealer, saying that the drugs were not sold because of their inferior quality. At the same time, she would tip-off the police, leading to the drug dealers' arrest," said an officer.

On March 9, Kalokhe was arrested by the Satara police after they found 110 kilograms of Mephedrone (M-Cat) at his Kanheri village residence. Next day, 12 kilograms of the suspected contraband were found from Kalkothe's Marine Drive police station locker. Following this, Mumbai police chief Rakesh Maria dismissed Kalokhe from service and shifted Pravin Chinchalkar, the senior police inspector of Marine Drive police station, to Special Branch. On April 14, the Marine Drive police had arrested Patankar's son Satish for his alleged role in his father's drug business.

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