'Not Our Job': Telangana DCA on massive Cherlapally drug haul

Hyderabad: After the big drug bust at Vagdevi Laboratories in Cherlapally, the Telangana Drugs Control Administration (DCA) clarified that the firm is not a pharmaceutical company and lacks a drug license on Monday.

The DCA stated it has no control over Mephedrone since it is not a medicine. The enforcement of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, is up to central agencies like the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and state police, not the DCA.

The DCA has neither the authority nor the mandate to initiate any action or investigation in this regard, added the statement released by the Joint Director, DCA.

On August 8, 2025, a police team from the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) Police Crime Branch found 105 grams of the narcotic substance MD (Mephedrone) in the possession of a woman named Fatima Murad Shaikh alias Molla, aged 23, residing in Mira Road East, on a public road near the Axis Bank ATM at Kashimira bus stop. Thus, a case was filed against her.

Simultaneously, her interrogation revealed that the narcotics were sourced from Telangana, prompting an extensive covert investigation. Based on the inputs gathered, the Maharashtra police busted a massive, sophisticated drug manufacturing unit in Hyderabad's Cherlapally industrial area.

On September 5, a police team raided the premises at Survey No. 186/1, Navodaya Colony, and arrested the alleged masterminds, Srinivas Vijay Voleti and his associate Tanaji Pandharinath Patwari. Subsequently, they have also seized raw materials worth an estimated Rs 12,000 crores, exposing a pan-India narcotics syndicate.

So far, 12 people have been arrested, including 1 Bangladeshi national. Three four-wheelers, one two-wheeler, 27 mobile phones, and over Rs 2.23 crore in cash have been seized. All the accused are being produced in the Mumbai court after being shifted to Maharashtra on a transit warrant.