LUCKNOW, Nov. 4 -- The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has launched a multi-pronged investigation to identify the financial backers, chemical suppliers and possible cartel connections behind the clandestine mephedrone laboratory busted in Jalaun on October 29. Investigators will examine suspected links in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra to determine whether the facility was part of a wider interstate drug-manufacturing network.

Senior DRI officials said the two arrested accused, Hemendra Kushwah, 27, a resident of Orai in Jalaun, and Santosh, 37, from Maharashtra, had been sent to judicial custody. The agency did not seek their police custody, having completed their interrogation before producing them before the court.

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