Cops hunt for main accused after peddler's arrest outside Mumbai college

Since the April 10 mid-day sting that highlighted just how easy it was to buy drugs outside posh suburban colleges, which sent the police into immediate action, several arrests have been made, including Peddler Zero, 'Raj'

The mid-day sting that alerted the cops to the location of the five women outside SNDT college. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Since the April 10 mid-day sting that highlighted just how easy it was to buy drugs outside posh suburban colleges, which sent the police into immediate action, several arrests have been made, including Peddler Zero, 'Raj'.

Also read - Mumbai: Drug peddlers luring youngsters with cocaine disguised as toffees

After forming SITs to patrol areas outside the three mentioned colleges - NMIMS University, SNDT and Mithibai - both the Juhu police and Santacruz police took strides to nab the peddlers scouring the colleges for easy targets.

After the family was busted, the street is now empty. However, they were later let go by the police and can now be seen operating, from across the road. Pic/Satej Shinde

Raj, the peddler who famously did not just deal, but also rolled joints on clients’ request, was finally arrested on Tuesday morning after he was spotted sleeping on a footpath near the public urinal opposite the NMIMS University. “At around 1 pm, we caught this man while he was sleeping on the footpath opposite NMIMS. The accused was already under the influence of drugs when we arrested him. However, no drugs were found on his person. We are still investigating the case, but the accused is under medical examination and we have charged him under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985,” said Sunil Ghosalkar, senior PI from Juhu police station.

Meanwhile, activity is also afoot at the Santacruz police station, which arrested one peddler from the footpath near the SNDT University, the day after the mid-day exposé. Now, the police is hunting for the key person who supplies ganja to the homeless women loitering around the varsity. “On 11 April, by night 8 pm we arrested a woman named Akkabai Shinde with packets of ganja and our investigation led us to ascertain that her husband is the main peddler who supplies ganja to these homeless women,” said Shantanu Pawar, Senior PI from Santacruz Police station. Incidentally, though the street where mid-day caught them has been swept clean, their business has just moved across the road. Cops, take note.

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