Who tipped about constable's involvement in drug business?

The mystery surrounding constable Dharmraj Kalokhe is slowly unravelling.

The Mumbai police constable was arrested on March 9 for possession of M-cat and was dismissed from service the next day.

Though this story was widely reported, what led the police on his trail was not clear.

It now emerges that a drug syndicate is at play here. The script is Bollywood stuff: there's deceit, revenge, one-upmanship, gang rivalry, and a woman, too.

If Mumbai police sources are to believed, the tip-off that led to Kalokhe's arrest came from none other than a suspended assistant commissioner of police. The latter himself was caught for possessing drugs a few years ago. The ACP is believed to have spilled the beans to take revenge upon Baby Patankar, the woman in the script.

This official has an old score to settle with Patankar as he was arrested on her tip-off.

So, why did the disgruntled ACP name Kalokhe to take revenge upon Patankar? No marks for guessing it right.

Kalokhe, say police sources, has been in touch with Patankar since 1996 when he was posted at the Worli station. Kalokhe has been working with the mill intelligence wing of the Marine Drive police for the past few years.
Patankar is on the run since Kalokhe's arrest.

Patankar has been playing a double-game with the police. She is an informant to some and a drug business partner to others.

When she helped the ANC arrest this ACP, he was posted at the no less than the director-general's office. He was arrested in Worli while carrying two kg of brown sugar in his official vehicle.

The Mumbai police are in the know of Patankar's game and the Kalokhe-Patankar nexus.

Last week, police commissioner Rakesh Maria had called a meeting of senior officers from the Anti-Narcotics Cell and South Region to discuss about the Kalokhe-Patankar nexus.

"In the meeting, ANC officials said they had received the tip-off from a former ACP that Patankar and Kalokhe are in possession of the contraband. Subsequently, a police team visited Kalokhe's native place in Satara but they could not find any contraband there," said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity.

The Satara police later seized the drugs from a second residence of Kalokhe.

The police suspect that a few among them are trying to shield Patankar as she is an informer. "We are getting call detail records from Patankar's mobile phones to ascertain if some policemen were in touch with her before and after she went absconding following Kalokhe's arrest," confirmed additional commissioner of police, south region, Krishna Prakash.

Even Kalokhe had his fair share of friends within the department.
On Monday last, Kalokhe was arrested after the Satara police raided his residence in Kanheri village and seized 110 kg of MD, popularly known as meow-meow and M-cat worth crores of rupees. Kalokhe was produced before a local court in Satara and was remanded in police custody till March 16. The remand has been extended till March 20.
Later, the Marine Drive police seized 12 kg of white powder, suspected to be M-cat, from the station locker of Kalokhe. After this, had was dismissed from service.
On Wednesday last, senior police inspector of Marine Drive police station Pravin Chinchalkar was also transferred to the Special Branch in the wake of drug seizure case.

Did an IPS officer tried to shield Kalokhe?
A few months ago, an IPS officer had recommended constable Dharmaraj Kalokhe should not be transferred from Marine Drive to Malabar Hill police station as he has been collecting intelligence on certain political issues and that his expertise in the field is highly required. The letter states that Kalokhe's conduct was "very good". It was directly marked to joint commissioner of police (law and order), sources said. Police chief Rakesh Maria has asked additional commissioner Krishna Prakash to probe the service record of Kalokhe.