Meow Meow Racket: Senior officer who helped Baby also shielded Kalokhe

Kalokhe was arrested in March after 114 kg of mephedrone were found in his house in Lonavla, and Patankar was held in April for allegedly supplying the drugs to him.

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Gokhale, who was in charge of the Azad Maidan unit of the Anti Narcotics Cell, is accused of having helped Patankar evade arrest and withholding information about her racket and not acting on it.

Crime Branch officers now believe that he also tried to help Kalokhe in a similar manner. “When Gokhale first received the tip-off about the drugs in Kalokhe’s residence and informed his superiors, he was instructed to plan a raid. However, he told his superiors that Kalokhe was on leave as his father had recently passed away, and a raid under such circumstances would be insensitive. In reality, Kalokhe’s father had passed away five months ago. Gokhale either knowingly withheld this information or did not cross-check its veracity, and both the scenarios are suspicious,” said a Crime Branch officer.

Investigators are also probing whether Gokhale knew about the drugs that Kalokhe had kept in his locker at the Marine Drive police station.

Inquiries so far have revealed that the first meeting between Patankar, Gokhale and Police Inspector Gautam Gaikwad, also arrested, occurred in February during which she first told him about the racket and sought his help. The Crime Branch is also probing the possible involvement of the wife of Head Constable Yeshwant Parte, also arrested, in Parte’s drug racket.

gautam.mengle@expressindia.com