Narcotics Cell cop held in raid on rave party

Maharashtra * Party was attended by 290 youths.

The Raigad Police busted a rave party at a resort in Khalapur,off the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on Sunday night. In an embarrassment for the Mumbai Police,a senior cop from the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) was arrested after he was reportedly found inside the resort,in the same room where the alleged contraband was stocked.

Along with Inspector Anil Jadhav,his friend Sachin Ghule,party organisers Snehjit Sajalkar,Kushankumar Sujankumar and the hotel manager were also nabbed and charged under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Police sources said about 290 youths from Mumbai and Pune,including 59 girls,were allegedly at the rave party. The son of a Bollywood actor-turned-politician was also reportedly present.

The seized contraband included cocaine (.43 milligram),ganja (1.9 kilogram),and local charas (56.41 gram) along with Rs 3.08 lakh cash. The resort had been booked for Rs 60,000 for one night and the entrance fee for the party was Rs 1,000. The directions to the party venue and other details were sent to selected people through a social networking site.

We will have to wait for their medical examination to take further action. When the raid was in progress,our team stumbled upon this officer (Jadhav). Strangely,he showed us his identification card and said he was at the party due to an official reason. We made enquiries and found that he was not on duty. He could not justify his presence when we questioned him further, said Namrata Patil,Deputy Superintendent of Police (Raigad).

The raid was conducted late in the evening after Superintendent of Police (Raigad) R D Shinde was tipped off. The operation began at 2 pm when a plainclothes woman constable went to the party along with three youths.

They registered themselves and gained entry. As soon as they confirmed that drugs were available there,we swooped down on the spot, Patil said.

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The party started around 3.30 pm and by the time the cops closed in on the group at 7.30 pm,most guests were reportedly inebriated and under the influence of drugs. For half an hour,they did not even know what was going around them. We had to order them to assemble and sit down at one spot, Patil said.

It was then that the officers found Jadhav reportedly consuming alcohol in one of the rooms booked by the organisers.

We found the name and number of Vicky Shah one of the organisers,who is now absconding in Jadhavs phone. He had also received an SMS on June 23 about the details of the party, she added.

Jadhav has been suspended and the Mumbai Police will conduct an independent probe against him,sources said.