Psychotropic drug racket busted in Delhi, 6, including CEO of herbal company, arrested

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A racket, which was involved in manufacturing and supplying the psychotropic substance alprazolam in Delhi-NCR was busted by the Delhi Police’s Crime Branch. A total of six people, including the Chief Executive Officer of a herbal healthcare company, have been arrested in the matter till Friday (September 27, 2024), they added.

The accused persons have been identified as Rajender Kumar Mishra, Ram Ashish Maurya, Deepak Kumar, and Mukesh Kumar, Naveen Aggarwal and Anand Kumar. While Mishra Maurya, Deepak and Mukesh dealt with the supply of alprazolam, Aggarwal and Kumar are the owners of the factories in which the drug was being manufactured.

Aggarwal, who is the recipient of an Indian Achiever’s Award, owns two companies, namely Nutriley Pvt. Ltd. and Biocase Foods & Extracts Pvt. Ltd., in Hisar, Haryana. The police said that the alprazolam was being manufactured in a unit of Biocase Foods and Extracts Pvt. Ltd Dr Naveen Aggarwal, who is also a recipient of the Indian Achiever’s Award and was given the ‘CEO of the year’ award last year, police said.

Another accused, Anand Kumar, owns a pharmaceutical company, Sakshi Enterprises Ltd., DCP (Crime) Amit Goel said.

The case has been ongoing since March 23, when the police received a tip-off and arrested Rajender Prasad Mishra from Delhi’s Brijpuri, who was found to possess alprazolam powder.

It was on March 23 this year when police followed a tip-off and arrested Rajender Prasad Mishra from Delhi’s Brijpuri and busted the supply chain of the psychotropic substance Alprazolam.

Around 18 kg of Alprazolam powder was recovered from his possession, police said, adding that during interrogation, Mishra disclosed that he works as a carrier in the drug cartel involved in the supply of Alprazolam powder and that he procured Alprazolam powder from Maurya, a resident of Brijpuri and delivered them to Kumar, a resident of Karawal Nagar.

Further raids were conducted to arrest Ram Ashish Maurya and Anand Kumar and a huge cash amount of Rs 1 crore was recovered from their houses, the DCP said.

Subsequently, a resident of Baghpat, Deepak Kumar was also arrested, and he disclosed that the Alprazolam powder was manufactured at a unit of Biocase Foods and Extracts Pvt. Ltd. in Hisar and it was owned by Dr. Naveen Aggarwal.

Later, when Aggarwal was then arrested, police also found traces of Alprazolam powder from the factory with the help of forensic teams, he said.

During the investigation, it was also revealed that accused Deepak took shelter at the residence of Mukesh Kumar, who was also arrested in the case. Police said the accused are being further interrogated and a probe was underway.