Inter-state drug network busted, kingpin nabbed

Shimla police have dismantled a location-based interstate drug network and arrested a Uttar Pradesh man identified as the main supplier of chitta (heroin) in the Rohru and Chirgaon region.

The accused, Amit Gupta, 30, a resident of Sarai Dhanoli in Barabanki district, UP, was operating from Lucknow, where he ran a delivery racket under which small quantities of chitta were hidden at different locations and sold through local distributors.

The breakthrough came on March 15, when a Rohru police team arrested one Sarthak, 29, with 9.17 gm of chitta. Investigation into the case established backward linkages pointing to Gupta as the kingpin supplying the drug network in Rohru and Chirgaon through local operatives.

A team was dispatched to Lucknow to arrest Gupta, but he had fled. He was eventually tracked down and arrested from Chandigarh on April 11.

Shimla SSP Gaurav Singh confirmed the arrest and said Gupta was produced before a local court, which remanded him to police custody until April 14. Investigation is ongoing.