Mumbai: In the NESCO drug overdose deaths case, the Vanrai police on Thursday arrested another student, Vineet Gerelani, 22, for allegedly supplying street drug ecstasy (MDMA) at the venue during the ‘999999999’ music concert on April 11.
On Thursday, all seven arrested accused were produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Borivali, which remanded them to police custody till April 18.
The police said two of the accused – Ayush Sahitya and Shubh Agarwal – are on the run. The builder arrested from Kalyan on Tuesday, Anand Patel, 24, procured pills from Sahitya, while another accused, Pratik Pandey, 24, obtained them from Agarwal on two to three other occasions.
The police said Raunak Khandelwal, 25, a student from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, who supplied the drugs to two deceased students, was in regular contact with Pandey and Patel. Another arrested accused, Vineet Gerelani, a B.Com student and Ulhasnagar resident, who allegedly supplied the drugs, was present at the venue with the arrested and wanted accused.
Messages recovered from his mobile phone suggest he distributed drugs in large quantities to several attendees via Snapchat and received payments in his account. Police suspect he may have links with the organisers and the other accused.
It is also alleged that Gerelani transferred money earned from drug sales to Sahitya. The accused had allegedly created a WhatsApp group to discuss drug purchases, which was later deleted, creating hurdles in the investigation.
The police have sought seven days of custody to retrieve deleted chats and trace the supply chain. However, the court granted only two-day remand. The police are analysing the call detail records (CDRs) of the accused, students, organisers, and NESCO staff to identify the suspected network.
They suspect the drugs could not have been distributed without some level of access or coordination. The probe so far has revealed that Pandey and the deceased Shreya Rai, along with their friends, had attended a previous techno event at NESCO, where they allegedly consumed ecstasy, indicating that drugs may have been circulated at other events as well.
In the court on Thursday, the lawyer representing NESCO argued that it is a reputed company that has successfully organised events since 1993. He stated that “if individuals conceal drugs in inner clothing, it is difficult to detect them, unlike weapons”.
He also pointed out that no drugs were recovered from the venue and questioned whether organisers of other locations would be held responsible if drugs were consumed elsewhere.
He added, “The company’s employees are being unfairly treated like drug peddlers despite having no criminal history.” The company stated, “We wish to state unequivocally that there has been no lapse or negligence on the part of NESCO or its employees.
Our employees, Sunny Vinod Jain and Balakrishnan Balaram (Kurup), have discharged their responsibilities in accordance with established procedures and without any wrongdoing.
We have full confidence that the ongoing investigation will establish the same” Meanwhile, the lawyer for the event management company argued that the responsibility for the event lies with NESCO and not with the event management firm, adding that their company operates professionally.
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Advocates Surendra Landge and Azad Gupta, appearing for accused Anand Patel and Vineet Gerelani, argued before the court that both individuals were arrested solely based on mobile phone conversations and chat records.
"There was no recovery of any contraband substance from my client. We are cooperating with the police, and my client’s phone is also with the investigating agency. Therefore, we argued for judicial custody," said advocates for accused Prasad Ghag and Samrat Thakker who represented Pratik Pandey.
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