Rohru-based drug racket kingpin’s accomplice nabbed

The police have arrested a key accomplice of Shahi Mahatma, alias Shashi Negi, a Rohru-based drug racket kingpin who was active in the upper Shimla region. The accused has been identified as Harinder Manta (38), a native of Dhaak Gaon village in Chirgaon, Shimla. At present, he was living at Deonghat in Solan.

Shimla SP Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi said that Manta was arrested from Giripul in Sirmaur district. He added that the accused along with Negi was operating a drug racket for the past five to six years and had sold ‘chitta’ worth around Rs 3 crore to Rs 5 crore. He added, “Negi and Manta were using R and M (Ranta and Manta) code to sell ‘chitta’. The code was printed on the packet containing the contraband.”

Shahi Mahatma, alias Negi,a resident of Rohru, was arrested in September. He was running a well-organised drug trafficking racket from Rohru. He had 40 to 45 people in his network and more than 25 of his accomplices had been apprehended. Negi’s operation was mainly concentrated in the upper Shimla region.

Negi was the mastermind of the drug racket but he remained elusive by avoiding direct contact with buyers. He relied on a network of middlemen to handle transactions and frequently changed locations and mobile phone numbers to avoid detection. Before selling drugs, Negi’s accomplices would verify the buyers through their PAN and Aadhaar card details. He added their names to a WhatsApp group for further coordination. Payments were made via the UPI and the contraband was then left at designated spots. He was nabbed after one of a peddler from J&K was arrested with 486 gm ‘chitta’.