Shahi Mahatma, also known as Shashi Negi, was an apple trader in the upper Shimla region who ran an interstate drug racket for several years. He avoided detection by ensuring that the different parts of his operation were never connected.

Negi's luck ran out on September 20, 2023, when police arrested Mudasir Ahmed Mochi, a resident of Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir. Mochi's links to Negi were established, and Negi was subsequently arrested.

Negi and his associates were supplying drugs in Rohru, Jubbal-Kotkhai, and Theog areas of Upper Shimla under the guise of his apple business. He had links with Nigerian drug gangs in New Delhi, gangs in Haryana, and people in Kashmir.

Negi's modus operandi involved ensuring that the drugs changed hands four times before reaching their destination. He used different sets of people for bringing in demand, supplying drugs, and receiving payments. He never came into direct contact with any of his partners.

The demand for drugs was generated in WhatsApp groups. After verification of the drug user, the demand was sent to Negi, who had another team to supply the drugs. At the time of the final handover, the delivery person would keep the drug in an isolated place and share a video with the buyer, who would pick it up from there.

The money reached Negi's account after traveling through various bank accounts. The people whose accounts were used during these transactions never knew it was drug money.

A fund flow of Rs 2.5-3 crores was detected in the bank accounts of the accused in the past 15 months. Before Negi's arrest, the police had already registered five FIRs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act against nine persons who were part of the drug racket. So far, 25 associates of the gang have been arrested.

The police are using a social integrated intelligence network system involving local residents as informers to help register cases and arrest drug peddlers. In the past 18 months, 650 cases have been registered and 1,100 drug peddlers, including 205 interstate dealers, have been arrested in Shimla district.

To prevent drug peddling, the police will increase intensive patrolling and the reach of social networking. Education institutions and large public places will be kept under surveillance.