Drug-making unit at Mumbai lawyer’s farmhouse in Kolhapur busted

MUMBAI: A narcotic drug-manufacturing unit being run from a city lawyer’s farmhouse in Kolhapur district was busted by the Mumbai police on Tuesday.
A team from the antinarcotics cell recovered 120gm of mephedrone, or MD, 38.7kg of raw material for its manufacture besides manufacturing machines—collectively valued at Rs 2.35 crore. While the lawyer, Rajkumar Rajhuns—his visiting card mentions he is an advocate of the high court —is on the run, two people have been arrested in connection with the case.
What led to the drug bust was the first arrest, of a woman from Sakinaka, on Friday. The 35-year-old woman, identified only as Maglin, was held with 50gm of MD. She told the police she procured the drug from the lawyer’s farmhouse in Kolhapur. Maglin—also known as Christina alias Aayesha alias Simran—was the lawyer’s former client.
Lawyer used to supply drug to city peddlers, say police
A police team fanned out to the farmhouse located at Chandgad taluka where they recovered the narcotic substance, the raw material and the manufacturing equipment. The caretaker of the place, Nikhil Ramchandra Lohar (29), was also arrested.
The woman and the caretaker were produced in a Mumbai court on Wednesday. They have been sent to police custody till Friday.
“The farmhouse, which is spread over at least 4,000 sq ft of land, was fully covered and guarded from the outside world,” said an officer. “It was touted to be a poultry and goat farmhouse.”
The lawyer, who is originally from Kolhapur, used to carry raw material from Mumbai to manufacture the drug, said deputy commissioner of police Dutta Nalawade. “He used to manufactures the drug himself. While returning to Mumbai, he would get the narcotic substance in his car. He has been in this business for three yesars,” Nalawade added.
The caretaker, who was paid a monthly salary between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000, has told the police that the drugs were supplied to at least half-a-dozen peddlers in and around Mumbai.
The lawyer had come in contact with sMaglin a couple of years ago. He had taken her to the farmhouse, the police said.
Rajhuns has a rented office in Andheri with at least four juniors working there. “We will search the office and investigate about his properties and bank account,” said Nalawade.
The police said he used to take up criminal and SRA-related cases. Rajhuns’s father, also a lawyer, practises in Belgavi.
The police team was supervised by joint commissioner Milind Bharambe and DCP Nalawade with officers Sanjay Chavan, Lata Sutar, Dahiphade, Wahid Pathan, Siddharam Mehtre, Farid Khan and Suresh Bhoye. They were assisted by personnel from Kolhapur police and the forensic science laboratory.