IP University grad, from business family: Who is the man ‘behind’ Rs 5,000-crore drug racket

Police say he graduated from Indraprastha University in 2003 and joined the family business. “However, he never actually came to the office and was usually found socialising in clubs,” a police officer says.

According to police, he and his father, Subhash Goel, had a falling out over his marriage. According to police sources, Goel eventually married and moved to Rajouri Garden. “He started working as a liaisoning agent to make his own income… He took hefty commissions and earned well,” a police officer says.

However, police claim, Tushar began frequenting clubs again. “That’s how he came in contact with members of a Dubai-based drug cartel,” a police source claims. According to police, by 2018, Tushar had allegedly already established his team of associates — Himanshu Kumar (27) and Auranzeb Siddiqui (23) — in Delhi to assist him in the drug business.

In 2017, Auranzeb started working as Tushar’s driver, police say. “Eventually, he became involved in his illegal activities,” a police officer says. Himanshu, a resident of Suleiman Nagar in Delhi, started working as a bouncer and personal bodyguard in 2014. By 2018, he was also working as Tushar’s bodyguard. “They were in touch with Jitender aka Jassi, a UK-based cartel member who oversaw the India operations and gave instructions to Tushar,” the officer says.

In August this year, police got a tip-off that the son of a prominent publishing house owner would be involved in distributing cocaine supplied by a Dubai-based cartel during the festive season. “We’d been monitoring him (Tushar) for the past two months… he was taking godowns on lease — in Ghaziabad and Mahipalpur,” a police source claims.

The godowns, allegedly, were to be storehouses for the approximately Rs 5,000 crore cocaine and marijuana consignment. According to police, the consignment initially came to the Ghaziabad godown and then to Mahipalpur. It is through these the Special Cell traced him.

Police say the investigation also revealed Tushar was part of the Youth Congress. His purported appointment letter of March 24, 2022, showed he was head of the Delhi Youth Congress’ RTI cell.

The Congress though, refutes any present links with Tushar. “He was regularly seen with BJP leaders and wasn’t active as a youth Congress member. He was also involved in anti-party activities. Hence, he was suspended,” a source from the Delhi Congress says, citing Tushar’s expulsion letter from October 2022.

Several photos of Tushar also surfaced with BJP leaders. The party, however, says he was not associated with it in any capacity.

Police sources said this is the first recorded case against Tushar. “We are probing as to how long he was facilitating drug distribution in Delhi,” a source says.

Tushar’s India handler, Jassi, was arrested on October 3 while trying to flee to London from Amritsar. “He had cocaine worth around 10 crore in his black Fortuner and was going to distribute it across Punjab. He was going to come to Delhi and go to London on October 12. Learning of Tushar’s arrest, he left the car in Amritsar and tried to flee from the airport,” a police officer says.

On Saturday, at Jassi’s instance, the Fortuner was seized from Amritsar, along with the cocaine, police say.