Drug police say they swooped on famous paan shop after its name cropped up during the questioning of a supplier in an internationl drugs cartel
The Muchhad Paan shop at Kemps Corner. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Monday called one of India’s most famous paanwalas, Muchhad Paanwala — Jaishankar Tiwari — for questioning. He was called after NCB officers found narcotics substances in his paan shop located at Kemps Corner. Officers said his name cropped up during the questioning of one Karan Sajnani, a British national, arrested for supplying drugs in many states in India and his alleged link with the international drug cartel.
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The NCB is also probing if Tiwari was using narcotics substances such as MP Joint, which was recovered from his shop, to make his paans tastier and to get his customers addicted to them and whether he was giving them to select customers.
The Muchhad Paan Shop at Kemps Corner is a popular landmark in south Mumbai. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar
The NCB is also trying to find if he has a network with drugs peddlers. Tiwari reached NCB's office at around 10 am. NCB sources said their officials are checking the information in the statement of Sajnani and why he took Tiwari's name and if Tiwari supplied drugs to his customers.
“For us everything is part of the investigation so at this stage we are not going to reveal anything. Once his statement's recording gets over only then we can come to certain conclusions,” said an officer from NCB. According to NCB officials on Saturday, they had arrested Sajnani and two women from Bandra in an NDPS case.
NCB officials said that during interrogation of the arrested accused it was found that the same drug was being supplied to Tiwari. After this a NCB team raided his Kemps corner shop on Sunday and found some narcotics substances. Sources also revealed that NCB may take action against him for keeping the narcotics substance in his shop but before acting against him officials want to grill him properly. Tiwari was being questioned till the time of
going to press.
3
No. of people arrested so far in international drugs cartel case
Who is Muchchad Paanwala
Jaishankar Tiwari came to Mumbai in 1977 and took over his father’s paan business. He earned a lot of money through his business, and also got orders from abroad through his website. He owns Mercedes cars and stays in South Mumbai. He also has a long list of customers like top businessmen, cricketers and A list Bollywood stars. The rates of his paan start from R120 and go up to Rs 650.
Arjun Rampal’s sister questioned
Komal Rampal at the NCB office. Pic/Suresh Karkera
Soon after the arrest of Agisilaos Demetriades, the brother of actor Arjun Rampal’s girlfriend, NCB scanned his mobile and other gadgets and retrieved some chats between him and one other Arjun. Later NCB raided Rampal’s house and found two medicines which come under NDPS Act. Rampal later showed the NCB a prescription, which was in his sister Komal’s name. The NCB summoned Komal to verify some facts. On Monday, she was questioned for over six hours. NCB is verifying her statement.
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