Pune court remands drug kingpin Virender Singh Basoya to NCB custody till August 21

A Pune court on Sunday remanded alleged drug kingpin Virender Singh Basoya, who was recently extradited from the UAE, to the NCB’s custody till August 21.

A Delhi court on Friday allowed the Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) plea seeking three-day transit remand of Basoya, accused in a multi-crore drug haul, to produce him before a Pune court.

On Sunday, Basoya was produced before a Pune court under heavy police security. The prosecution told the court that the accused stayed abroad for a long time. His name has surfaced in several drug-related cases and there is a possibility that he is a key figure in a major drug trafficking racket.  Supplying narcotic drugs is a serious offence, the prosecution noted, adding that around 9,000 kg of mephedrone had been seized during operations carried out by the NCB and the police.

The Pune Police had also seized a large quantity of drugs during operations in Vishrantwadi (Pune) and Delhi. There are multiple accused in this case, and Basoya needs to be interrogated about the role of all the other accused. The search for the remaining accused in this case is also underway, the prosecution said and sought Basoya’s NCB custody for six days. Basoya’s lawyer, however, said his client should be remanded to only four days of NCB custody.

After hearing both sides, the court remanded Basoya to NCB’s custody till August 21. Basoya’s name had surfaced in a seizure of 500 grams of mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant commonly known by the street name “meow meow”, in Pune in 2024. The probe was later expanded to identify and dismantle the entire drug trafficking network, resulting in the recovery of approximately 867 kg of mephedrone from Pune and 970 kg from Delhi, taking the total recovery to approximately 1,837 kg.

The NCB’s Mumbai unit took over the investigation and identified Basoya as the alleged mastermind who coordinated activities of the syndicate from foreign shores and smuggled out mephedrone consignments from India to other countries. His name also cropped up in a separate case of the Delhi Police Special Cell related to international cocaine trafficking.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the NCB secured the return of Basoya from the UAE, creating a “new milestone” in the policy of zero tolerance against narcotics.  NCB Deputy Director General (operations) Neeraj Gupta had said that Basoya escaped to Dubai just a day after the Pune police registered a case against him in 2024.

Basoya is a “big kingpin” of the drug trafficking network against whom an Interpol Red Notice was issued in November 2025, Gupta added.