HYDERABAD: International drugs peddler Tony, who was arrested on Thursday with nine others, including some high profile businessmen, was on Friday sent to judicial remand after he was produced in court. According to sources, the police has sought Tony’s custody for a week. A decision on this is expected on Saturday.
Among the businessmen taken into custody are Niranjan Kumar Jain, a contractor and Yagyanand Agarwal, who runs a spices business in the Old City. Office staffers of Niranjan Kumar and Venkat Chalasani were also taken into custody as their bosses used the mobile phones of the office boys to contact Tony. They acknowledged the purpose of the calls and the dealings, according to police sources.
Sources said that four others are on the run, and identified them as Ashok Jain, Soma Sashikanth, Gajendra Prasad and Sanjay.
As revealed by the Police Commissioner, these 13 names were revealed by Tony and his main seller Imran. Some of these businessmen have businesses with turnover of over Rs 100 crore.
Investigation is on to determine whether the businessmen were procuring drugs from Tony for personal consumption or if they were supplying them to others.
The sources said that the case stretches back four years and in this period, Tony had sent his agents to Hyderabad to deliver drugs at least 30 times.
He used to send Imran and Noor Mohammed to Hyderabad to deliver the consignments. They used to stay in hotels for a couple of days and leave after the deal.
It is learnt that Tony has used the services of 60 agents to smuggle drugs from Mumbai to Hyderabad. Sources said that among the names of the high profile people who are involved are Niranjan, Shashwanth Jain, Bandi Bhargav and Venkat Chalasani.