Pune’s morality police ranting over a rave

Patil claimed that they had seized from the revellers 100 gram of hashish, 2.5 kg of ganja, seven bottles of phenyl phenhydrochloride eye drops, and 1,500 “California drops,” a liquid greased on the palm and inhaled for intoxication. Each drop is sold for some Rs 500. Also seized were cellphones, music systems, liquor and beer, and vehicles.

Among those arrested were Dhruv Pavan Kaushal and Parmajeet Singh Harcharan Singh Brar, who police say are drug-dealers and a German national, Stefan Muller, who was the DJ. Kaushal is said to have organised the event.

“We have arrested them all on charges of consuming drugs and psychotropic substance during the party. All accused have been booked under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985,” Patil said.

He claimed that their interrogation had revealed names of “some of the top drug-dealers in the city,” and that he was “verifying the role of the Israeli drug mafia and some international links which form part of the organised drug syndicate.”

Patil has been on a “moral policing” drive for the past few weeks with much of the action taking place in the Sinhagad fort area — the neighbourhood from where the rave arrests were made — some 25 km west of the city. On January 21, he had cracked down on 35 lodges there and arrested 102 couples, including eight “dance-bar” girls.

On January 23, he raided Golden Dream bar at Wadgaon Maval on the Mumbai-Pune highway, some 50 km from here, which according to him was functioning as an illegal dance bar-cum- pickup joint. Eleven women were arrested on charges of prostitution.

On February 4, he raided a farmhouse in Mantarwadi in the same area and this time the target was a tamasha theatre. As many as 21 girls, some of them as young as 12 and 13, were picked up on charges of prostitution.

Following this, the Pune district collector was urged to close down hotels and lodges in Khadakvasla (where National Defence Academy is located), Khanapur and Panshet, all located near Sinhagad.

Patil had come under fire from human rights activists when a 20-year-old Dalit woman from Katewadi in Baramati was allegedly molested by two upper-caste men and her family was forced to flee the village. While the incident occurred on July 11, 2006, the rural police failed to act. It was only after a series of reports in The Indian Express that Patil called the victim’s family to his chamber, following which the youths were arrested.

Of the 287 arrested for the rave party, 150 were granted bail late this afternoon by special judge R V Deshmukh against a bond of Rs 1500 each and surety of a like amount. Seven were sentenced to four days of police custody while the remaining were sent to 14 days of judicial custody.

Parents, relatives and friends came to the Pune Rural Police Headquarters at Pashan on Monday where the judicial proceedings took place. A battery of top lawyers, including leading advocate Satish Maneshinde from Mumbai, were seen discussing bail applications with the relatives.

While most parents chose to stay away from the media, some relatives and friends accused the media of blowing the issue out of proportion. Dalbeer Singh (name changed), a parent, said, “I want to get my son released at the earliest. We have hired a reputed lawyer. I still can’t understand the charges under which he has been booked. He has been here for the past two days without food or water. He will never take drugs and has been falsely booked. “

NIBM Road resident Samir Shaikh said, “My cousin is just 20 and was attracted by the music like other youngsters. The cops should act according to medical reports and distinguish between those who took drugs and those who didn’t.”

It was for the first time that the court had shifted to the police headquarters since the police said it was difficult to ferry the 280 accused to the Shivajinagar Court.

“We have verified the names and addresses given by those arrested and found at least 50 per cent of those to be fake. They gave fake addresses areas like Koregaon Park and Airport Road. We are awaiting the medical report after which future course of action will be decided, “ said Patil.

Patil said invitations had been extended through isratrance.com, a portal that promised an “Israeli psychedelic experience”, and through SMSs, emails, mobile calls.

“The raid was carried out after a tip-off by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the city police informing us about consumption of psychotropic substances by the revellers,” Patil said.