The Pune City police have apprehended a 30-year-old prison guard and a 57-year-old Sassoon General Hospital staffer on charges related to aiding the escape of Lalit Patil, a kingpin of a drug cartel, from the hospital premises on October 2.
With these two arrests, the total number of individuals arrested in connection with the case now stands at 10. Mahendra Shevte, a resident of Khadki and a helper at Sassoon Hospital, was taken into custody during the night between Monday and Tuesday. Shortly thereafter, Mois Ahmed Shaikh, a prison guard from Yerawada Central Prison, was also arrested.
Inspector Nandakumar Bidwai, leading the investigation, confirmed the arrests and stated that the court in Pune has remanded the two individuals to police custody until December 1. “Investigation has revealed that Shevte played a role in Patil’s escape. He is suspected to have helped him during his stay at the hospital. Shevte’s interrogation will shed light on the role played by the hospital staff in the alleged crime,” said a police officer involved in the investigation.
Shaikh, the officer stated, was on duty in the prison ward when Patil was admitted to Sassoon Hospital and is suspected of assisting the drug cartel kingpin in making a phone call to other accomplices in the case.
The Pune City police are conducting a comprehensive investigation into the large-scale mephedrone manufacturing and smuggling operation led by Lalit Patil (34) and Arvindkumar Lohare (39), the alleged mastermind behind the operation.
The investigation originated from the seizure of mephedrone valued at Rs 2.14 crore by the anti-narcotics cell of the Pune City police on September 30 near Sassoon Hospital. Simultaneously, a separate probe is underway into Patil’s escape on October 2.
Patil, initially admitted to the prisoners’ ward at Sassoon General Hospital, managed to escape on the evening of October 2, a day before his scheduled hernia surgery. He was subsequently re-arrested by the Mumbai police on October 17 from a village near Bengaluru.
The police inquiry has exposed that since his arrest in December 2020, Patil, lodged in Yerawada prison, spent 16 months in the Sassoon hospital ward, citing various medical reasons.
