Nagpur gangster Vishal Gupta, alias Phalli, was arrested in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, after a 1,900-km pursuit linked to a firing case and an alleged interstate mephedrone network, police said. The 25-year-old Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) accused had been on the run for two months.
Gupta was arrested with his girlfriend Sahali Pandhram on Saturday, according to the report. He came under intensified police scrutiny after shots were allegedly fired outside the residence of Congress corporator Shubham Motghare in Nagpur’s Shrawan Nagar on August 26. Investigators suspect the attack followed a dispute in which Gupta believed Motghare had informed police about his alleged links with drug peddlers.
Police records list around 15 cases against Gupta, including murder, attempt to murder, rape and assault. He had also been held under preventive detention laws. According to investigators, he became involved with local gangs after his family migrated from Uttar Pradesh to Nagpur around two decades ago. He had earlier sold peanuts from a roadside handcart with his father outside a beer bar in Wathoda.
The police report said Gupta’s alleged involvement in serious crime grew over time, with murder cases registered in 2016 and 2020. After securing bail in the 2020 murder case, he allegedly expanded his mephedrone trade and developed a supply chain connecting Nagpur with Rajasthan through Madhya Pradesh and Ujjain. In 2024, the crime branch arrested him with three firearms, but investigators said he returned to the alleged drug trade after being released.
The latest breakthrough came on October 24, when a crime branch team led by senior inspector Vinayak Golhe raided a flat in Narendra Nagar. Five men were arrested and police seized 1.405 kg of mephedrone, six mobile phones, Rs 3.44 lakh in cash, one car, four two-wheelers and other material valued at Rs 1.54 crore. A sixth accused was arrested later.
Police alleged that Gupta coordinated the consignment from a hideout and sent an advance payment of Rs 15 lakh through his network. Investigators suspect the drugs were transported from Rajasthan through Ujjain before being distributed to peddlers in Nagpur. The police are examining what Commissioner Vishwas Nangre Patil described as the network’s “backward and forward linkages”.
“Already facing MCOCA, Phalli may face another case under the stringent law,” Nangre Patil said. Joint Commissioner of Police Navinchandra Reddy said investigators would pursue other alleged recipients of the mephedrone. “Several top criminals in Nagpur were receiving MD from Phalli. We will now go after them too,” he said.
