The Palghar police on Tuesday said they have booked two cops for allegedly setting a drug peddler free last month after taking a bribe at the Waliv police station. They have sent a team to Nagpur to arrest sub-inspector Vijay Chavan, who was transferred there recently, and launched a manhunt to nab police constable Bhimrao Vhaskoti who is absconding.

The incident came to light when the Palghar crime branch arrested the drug peddler on Monday. During interrogation, he revealed that Chavan and Vhaskoti had in August caught him with 14.140 gm heroin worth Rs 75,000. They seized the drug, his mobile phone and took a Rs 7 lakh bribe before setting him free, the dealer told the cops. On the instructions of Palghar district Superintendent of Police Gaurav Singh, the sub-divisional police officer, Vasai, raided the Waliv police station in Vasai East and seized the heroin and the mobile phone.