Karnataka chemist arrested for supplying sedative pills in Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: A medical shop owner at Hubbali in Karnataka was arrested by the Coimbatore police on Saturday for supplying sedative and painkiller pills to the city.
A special team attached to the Karumbukadai police in Coimbatore city visited Hubballi on Friday and arrested Vasanth Shetty, 69, owner of Karnataka Medical Stores.
He was brought to Coimbatore and produced before a judicial magistrate.Later, he was remanded in judicial custody and lodged at the Coimbatore Central Prison.
“Drug peddlers buy the pills from Vasanth. They buy one pill for ₹20 and sell it to the users in Coimbatore for Rs 300 to ₹400,” a police officer said.
In May, Karumbukadai police arrested V Praveen Shetty, 36, of Aravinda Nagar in Dharwad near Old Hubballi, for supplying pills to Coimbatore. He was working in a pharmacy owned by Vasanth. Praveen sold tapentadol, a painkiller, and nitrazepam, a sedative, pills.
Along with Praveen, A Sahul Amit, 27 of Kurichi Pirivu; K Murugan, 27 of Sowripalayam; K Akbar Ali, 28, of Sunnambu Kalavai near Kuniyamuthur; and A Riyas Khan, 24, of Thiruvalluvar Nagar in Kuniyamuthur, were arrested. They used to buy the pills from Praveen and sell them to youths in Coimbatore. The Karumbukadai police seized 116 tapentadol tablets, 3g of synthetic drug, a few strips of nitrazepam, syringes, three mobile phones, and some tobacco products from them. Preliminary inquiry revealed that the pills were brought from Mumbai to a super stockist, Rajesh, at Hubballi, from where Praveen and Vasanth procured them. A police team is trying to trace the whereabouts of Rajesh.