Mumbai, April 15 -- Vanrai police on Tuesday widened the net in the probe into the sudden deaths of two concert-goers at Goregaon's NESCO Exhibition Centre, on Saturday. An alleged drug peddler from Kalyan is believed to have supplied the drugs that led to the deaths of two Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) students -- Shreya Rai, 24, and Bismat Singh Amarjit Singh Bhasin, 28 - and has left the third Sheetal Salvi, 25, in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Bombay Hospital. All three are from Mumbai. The drug peddler, identified as Anand Patel, was arrested on Tuesday, for allegedly supplying Ecstasy, a popular party drug, to the students. An amphetamine-based stimulant with mild hallucinogenic properties, Ecstasy affects the body in many ways, including increased bodily temperature and intense physical pleasure. Its invigorating and mood-boosting qualities has made it popular among youth. The drug was transported to the customers at the venue through Porter app. He was produced before the Borivali magistrate court on Tuesday and remanded to police custody up to April 16. On Monday police had arrested five accused. They are: Balkrishna Kurup, 46, vice president of NESCO Exhibition Centre; Sunny Vinod Jain, 31, who works with Kurup; Akash Banmari Samal, 31, an employee of Nagpur-based production house Inspiring Tie Production, which organised the concert; and Raunak Rahul Khandelwal, 25, and Pratik Bijesh Pandey, 24 -- both students of the college. An FIR has been registered against the five accused based on a complaint by police sub-inspector Rahul Manik Hankare, attached to the Vanrai police station, who was probing the reports of accidental deaths of the two MBA on Saturday. Rai, her friend Sheetal Salvi, 25, who is presently under observation at the ICU, and their other classmates, attended the '999999999 Music Concert' at the NESCO grounds on Saturday. There were 25 students from the college in disparate groups. As the music swelled, Rai and Salvi responded with intense synchronised moves amidst the crowd, and soon experienced difficulty in breathing. Both collapsed due to dizziness, following which their friends rushed them to Trauma Hospital, Jogeshwari. A woman constable, who was dispatched to record their statements, found that neither was in a condition to give a statement. Around 7.00am on Sunday, Life Line Medicare Hospital, Malad, informed the police that another youth - Bhasin, a resident of Churchgate - who was also at the same show was admitted after he complained of dizziness and convulsions in the limbs. Police said, he complained of light headedness while consuming an alcoholic beverage, purportedly a brand of gin, as the concert was nearing its end. He was subsequently admitted to Lifeline, where he died while undergoing treatment. While Bhasin's body was sent for post-mortem at Siddharth Hospital, Goregaon, Rai and Salvi were shifted to Bombay Hospital, where the latter breathed her last and her body was sent to JJ Hospital for post-mortem. In her statement to the police, Salvi, who is in the ICU of Bombay Hospital, said she and her friends bought the tickets to the concert online. After entering the concert space, she told police, that their college friend Raunak Khandelwal handed her a yellow pill, which she consumed with water. The group remained at the event till 12 am, in which span Rai also took the yellow pill. "When I saw Shreya last, she looked well. We were dancing together," Salvi told the cops, HT has learnt, clarifying that what they had consumed were Ecstasy pills. "I had previously taken one during an event at Jio World in October 2025," Salvi added. Investigating officers said, based on her statement, Khandelwal and the four others were arrested. The organisers, including the employee of the event management company, were arrested "for failing to discharge their responsibility of conducting rigorous searches of every attendee for narcotics". While interrogating Khandelwal, Kalyan-based drug peddler Anand Patel's name was revealed. Khadakpada Police, in Kalyan, swung into action and raided Mohan Heights, in Vayle Nagar, where Patel resided. Patel was detained and later handed over to Vanrai police. When Patel was produced in court on Tuesday, police told the magistrate ahead of his remand: "We need to find out who Patel's supplier is and also recover any stash of drugs he may have in his possession." In the remand application, police also pointed out that "despite being fully cognizant of the prohibition under the Liquor Prohibition Act against serving alcohol to individuals under the age of 25, the organisers served alcohol to the deceased, and others, even though none of them possessed a valid liquor permit". The six have been booked under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita and relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. Patel's lawyer Azad Gupta argued that Patel was being named as a supplier "because he was acquainted with the students; there is no material to link him to the case". Meanwhile, NESCO, in a statement to SEBI on Monday, said that it "was cooperating fully with the police authorities regarding the incident". There has been a 200% escalation in the number of live shows in the country over the last two years, said Sabbas Joseph, co-founder of Wizcraft Entertainment Pvt Ltd, a key player in event management, in Mumbai. "People don't want to be locked up anymore - it's a phenomenon that took off post-Covid and is growing," said Joseph. Event management companies however follow SOPs for concerts and public events, he said. Apart from restrictions of age, bags are thoroughly checked, CCTVs monitor entrances and key areas, checks are done to ensure no weapons or arms or alcohol or bottles or metal is allowed in, and warning regarding drugs, use of alcohol, tobacco are put up prominently including on the ticket rules. Consumers and ticket buyers are warned repeatedly that any consumption would be an offence. "However, there is no way to check tablets or powder sachets, etc. This needs to be done by police checks as well as event security, and possibly regular non-intrusive methods are inadequate," he said. Speaking about drug use among the youth, Dr Aslam Khan, a psychiatrist who works with patients with substance use disorders at Apex Multispeciality Hospital, Saki Naka, said: "Drug overdoses often occur because users consume repeated doses while waiting for the drug to take effect, unaware of its delayed or unpredictable potency." He added, "Street drugs are frequently adulterated - in one case I encountered, insecticides were mixed with MDMA-making them extremely hazardous." These chemicals, he said can hyper-stimulate the body, severely affecting the brain, heart and blood vessels, often leading to cardiac arrest. "The risk varies depending on genetic resilience and individual tolerance; even a single exposure can trigger psychosis, seizures, or fatal complications."...