Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said state police personnel with drug links will not just be suspended but also dismissed from service.

Talking to reporters here, Fadnavis said anyone involved in the manufacturing and peddling of drugs will be booked under harsh laws.

“People involved will face strict action, but those police officials found to be involved (in drug trade) will not just be suspended but also dismissed under (Article) 311 (of the Constitution),” Fadnavis said.

Constitution’s Article 311 pertains to the dismissal, removal or reduction in rank of persons employed in civil capacities under the Centre or a state.

The state police have undertaken a campaign to make Maharashtra drug-free and raids are being undertaken in every district, he said.

Work is happening at the national level and the inter-state movement of gangs involved in the drug trade is being monitored, he said.

The state police have confiscated drugs worth hundreds of crores of rupees, the deputy CM said.

The Fadnavis-led home department had faced criticism, especially from the Shiv Sena (UBT) over the escape of alleged drug racketeer Lalit Patil from a government hospital in Pune on October 2. Patil was arrested near Bengaluru a few days later.

Nine police personnel were suspended after Patil’s escape. Patil, who was in jail for about a year, was found to have access to a mobile phone while in hospital, a police official had said. He was allegedly peddling drugs even while undergoing treatment and had been named in a new case only three days ago.

Fadnavis said charges boomerang against those who level them. Last month, Fadnavis had claimed that Patil was the chief of the Nashik district of the undivided Shiv Sena when it was helmed by Uddhav Thackeray.

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