Pune Police Takes Custody Of Drug Racketeer Lalit Patil
Pune, 1st November 2023: Pune Police has successfully taken custody of Lalit Patil, a drug smuggler who had escaped from Sassoon Hospital earlier. Lalit was brought from Mumbai to Pune on Tuesday at approximately 9 pm. He will be produced before the court today for further custody.
Lalit Patil had managed to evade custody, escaping from Sassoon Hospital on October 2. He had been arrested by the Mumbai Police after being located in Bengaluru. Following his arrest, a Mumbai court had granted police custody for Lalit until October 30. Subsequently, Pune police sought the court’s permission in Mumbai to take custody of Lalit for further investigation, completing the required legal processes to secure his arrest.
A warrant for Lalit’s arrest had been issued by the First Class Judicial Magistrate AC Birajdar. To facilitate this, three teams from the crime branch were dispatched to Mumbai. Lalit, along with co-accused Shivaji Shinde and Rahul Pandit, was transferred from judicial custody to police custody in Pune during the night.
Previously, Pune Police had taken into judicial custody Lalit’s girlfriend Pragya Patil, brother Bhushan Patil, as well as Abhishek Balakawade, Vinay Aranha, Arvindkumar Lohre, and Rehan alias Golu Ansari while retaining their police custody rights.
With Lalit back in custody, the police are expected to further question him during his period of detention. The investigation aims to determine how Lalit managed to escape and who may have assisted him. Additionally, it seeks to uncover the potential involvement of other individuals in the drug smuggling operation.
