Shashikala Ramesh Patankar, Mumbai's lady drug dealer worth over Rs 100 crore

On police files, Shashikala Ramesh Patankar alias Baby is a familiar name.

From a small-time drug peddler, the 50-year-old has become a notorious name in the Mumbai's drug circuit in the past 15 years.

Patankar, who had made good inroads within the Mumbai police, had reportedly amassed property worth over Rs 100 crore from her narcotics business, police sources said.

The Mumbai police have issued a lookout notice on her after the arrest of constable Dharmaraj Kalokhe in the drug possession case.

Patankar's husband and brother were both addicted to drugs and it was she who used to arrange the contraband for them. That's how she entered the world of narcotics.

In 2000, she used to deal with drug dealers from Rajasthan. "Patankar used to conceal the contraband on her stomach, cover it with some clothing and smuggled them into the city through train," an officer said.

From 2000 to 2002, Mumbai police have registered three cases of narcotics possession against Patankar. Though she was arrested on all three occasions, she got out on bail.
Following this, she changed track and became a police informer, sources said.

Patankar's modus operandi was simple.

"She used to get drugs from dealers for selling them in Mumbai. She would keep a certain portion of the pure drugs with herself and mix the rest with impure substances, known as taaka in narcotics jargon. Later, she would return the mixed contraband to the original dealer, saying she could not sell them as they were of inferior quality. As the dealers leave, she would tip off the police, leading to their arrests," said an officer.

This way, "Patankar earned a bad reputation in Rajasthan and Bhawani Mandi, Ratlam and Nimach areas of Madhya Pradesh for getting several drug dealers in the police net," he said.
Mumbai police sources say she has reportedly amassed property worth over Rs 100 crore from narcotics business in the past four years.

"For the past few years, Patankar has been dealing in M-cat, which is much cheaper than brown sugar. We have learnt that she has a Rs 12 crore flat and a wine shop in Worli. She also owns a floor of a residential building in the Koregaon Park area in Pune," said a police source.

The latest on her is that she has got into fresh trouble. The Dadar police on Sunday recorded the statement of her nephew Manish Majgaonkar, who has alleged that Patankar was involved in his mother's murder in 1993.