MUMBAI, July 17 -- An anonymous tip in February 2024 sent inspector Atmaji Sawant of unit 7 of the Mumbai Crime Branch on the trail of Parveen Bano Ghulam Shaikh, a 33-year-old burqa-wearing woman who lived in the slums of Kurla. She, Sawant was told, had emerged as one of the largest peddlers of mephedrone-- Meow Meow in common parlance-in his jurisdiction. A little rooting around revealed that the woman had recently paid Rs.40 lakh as down payment for a flat in the more upscale neighbourhood of Mahim. A few days later, as Parveen Bano got off a late-night local train from Mira Road, she was intercepted, and caught with 641 grams of mephedrone (aka MD).

But that tip, 17 months ago, led to a multi-agency crackdown on Maharashtra's larges...