Maharashtra drug dealer's arrest from Chennai takes political colour
Lalit Patil, the main accused in a multi-crore drug racket who escaped from judicial custody on October 2 while taking treatment in a Pune hospital. Patil's escape had led to the Maharashtra government facing allegations that its ministers from the Shiv Sena were involved in protecting Patil and that the state was turning into another Punjab.
Patil was arrested by the Mumbai police from Chennai on Tuesday night and was brought to Mumbai.
He was produced in court which has remanded him to police custody till October 23.
Patil was previously arrested in 2020. However, he managed to flee on October 2 this year from the government-run Sassoon hospital in Pune where he was taking treatment for the past few months.
Patil's escape had led to a huge embarrassment for the Maharashtra government as CCTV footage showed that the police guarding Patil at the hospital were involved in facilitating his escape. The Maharashtra opposition had alleged that two ministers from the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) faction helped Patil in his drug racket and his escape.
«It is interesting that the Mumbai police caught him and not the Pune police.
Pune is soon going to become Udta Pune like Udta Punjab. The Pune Police, the Nashik Guardian minister Dada Bhuse and the excise minister Shambhuraj Desai should undergo a narco analysis test,» said Sushma Andhare, a leader from the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena.
Significantly, Patil, talking to the media while he was being taken to court today, claimed, «I did not run, I was made to run.»
Pune, Kasba Peth Congress MLA Ravindra Dhangekar said that the escape of Patil from the Sassoon hospital and his subsequent arrest was «managed». «When he was under the custody of the Pune police, he was
