Pune: A holiday court in the city on Sunday remanded Arvindkumar Lohare (43), an MSc (Chemistry) degree holder accused of giving the formula to make mephedrone (MD) to drug kingpin Lalit Patil. On Saturday, the police took Lohares custody from the Yerawada Central Prison, where he was lodged after he was arrested in October 2020 for the haul of Rs 20cr MD in Chakan. Lohare, a resident of Oshiwara in Mumbai, is the sixth suspect to be arrested in the case.Assistant commissioner of police (crime) Sunil Tambe told TOI, Lohare had earlier worked with various pharmaceutical companies. In 2018, the Nashik police arrested him in a drug-related case. Patil had helped him secure bail at the time.Tambe said, Through public prosecutor Yogesh Kadam, we brought to the courts notice that Lohare has the technical know-how to set up a mephedrone production facility and it was he who provided this information to Patil and the others arrested in this case—Patils brother Bhushan and Abhishek Balkawade. Lohare was also in touch with one Harish Pant, also from Oshiwara, whom the Mumbai and Pune cops are on the lookout for. Pant aided in the setting up of the drug unit at Shindegaon in Nashik, which was raided by the Saikinaka police on October 5. Before Shindegaon, Lohare was engaged with an MD manufacturing unit at Mahad in Raigad district.Meanwhile, the police have decided to take custody of Pradnya Kamble, an aide of Lalit Patil. She is currently arrested for harbouring Patil after his escape from Sassoon hospital. The police said her role in the drug haul case has been identified, as she is one of the beneficiaries of the money generated from the sale of the drugs.We also published the following articles recentlyRs 305-crore drug haul: Man who assisted drug racketeer Lalit Patil to go into hiding arrestedA man named Sachin Wagh has been arrested for assisting Lalit Patil, a drug racketeer, to go into hiding. Wagh, who was a chauffeur, drove Patil from Nashik to Surat after his escape from a hospital in Pune. Wagh is the 16th person to be arrested in connection with the drug bust, where 151 kg of mephedrone worth Rs305 crore was seized. The investigation is ongoing to uncover more details about the drug haul.Drugs case: Lalit Patil was Shiv Sena Nashik president when arrested in December 2020, says Devendra FadnavisMaharashtra deputy CM, Devendra Fadnavis, revealed that Lalit Patil, the alleged mastermind in a recent drug case, was the Shiv Sena president in Nashik when he was first arrested in December 2020. Fadnavis raised questions about the lack of interrogation and conviction during Patils 14-day stay in the hospital. Patil had escaped from Sasoon Hospital in October and was later arrested in Chennai. A raid in Nashik had previously seized large quantities of Mephedrone from a factory allegedly owned by Patils brother.Police to invoke MCOCA against Patil, aidesThe Pune police are planning to invoke the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against drug haul mastermind Lalit Patil and his aides. Patil has five cases related to organized drug racket operations, and investigations have revealed his involvement in an organized crime syndicate. The police are also investigating Patils claim that he was made to escape from the hospital. The allegations made by Patil are considered false and baseless, and the police are seeking his custody for further investigation.

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