Chargesheet filed in Jalgaon ketamine seizure case

The Directorate General of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has filed a chargesheet in the case related to the seizure of 1.2 tones of illegally manufactured ketamine in Jalgoan district of Maharashtra last December.
The seized quantity was valued at around Rs 118 crore at the time, making it one of the biggest drug-haul in Western India.
Ketamine is categorised as 'a psychotropic drug' under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
"We yesterday filed a chargesheet running into about 800 pages in a court in Jalgaon," said special public prosecutor Francis Saldana today.
DRI officials said the chargesheet was filed against 12 persons including the kingpin, Vikas Puri, an M-Tech rank-holder.

Puri and others have been charged under the NDPS Act.

On December 13, 2013 DRI team raided Rikhma Industries in Jalgoan, some 400 kilometres from Mumbai, where ketamine was being manufactured without a license.
Puri was arrested from Powai in suburban Mumbai, and the search of his flat led to discovery of Rs 1.2 crore in cash, allegedly the proceeds of ketamine sale.
Puri owns V C Pharma and Speciality Chemicals, two firms located in Vikhroli in suburban Mumbai, and has factories in Ratnagiri district. He obtained orders for ketamine and got the supplies from Nitin Chinchole, the owner of Rukhma Industries, as per the DRI.

Ketamine stocks were hidden on the premises of Biosynthetics, a sister unit located close to Rukhma Industries.
A licence is needed to manufacture ketamine or to trade it.