Raipur. After the instructions of Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai, Chhattisgarh Police has become active against drug smuggling. Continuous action is being taken against drug smugglers. In this episode, Raigarh Police has busted a big racket of ganja smuggling. Police has arrested 8 people including the main accused by establishing the ‘forward link’ and ‘backward link’ of the ganja seized in the ganja smuggling and property worth Rs 72 lakh has been seized.
In fact, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had recently given instructions to stop such activities during his Chhattisgarh visit, after which the police has come into action mode after the instructions of CM Sai. This is the first time that the police is actively taking action on every link of ganja smuggling. Along with this, the bank accounts of the accused are also being held while conducting financial investigation of ganja smuggling. Further action is going on with the help of national agency Narcotics Control Bureau and interstate police.
As per the instructions, on the guidelines received from Police Headquarters Nava Raipur, under the guidance of Bilaspur Range IG Dr. Sanjeev Shukla and SP Divyaang Patel, on August 28, Jute Mill Police conducted a major ganja raid near Kodatarai and arrested five accused including a woman, from whom 175 kg ganja, an Alto car and a small Hathi pickup vehicle (total property worth Rs. 43 lakhs) were seized, the arrested main accused Santram Khunte Sakti (CG) and his associates were interrogated rigorously.
Action scenario:
After the initial arrest of the accused, intensive interrogation was done and information about other members of the gang and their modus operandi was collected. Under the guidance of Inspector General of Police Bilaspur Dr. Sanjeev Shukla, 5 different special teams of Raigarh Police and Bilaspur Police were formed, which were sent to different locations. The police teams, displaying their acumen and professional capability, raided District Baut (Odisha), District Bilaspur, Village Pihrid and Village Charpara District Sakti (Chhattisgarh) and destroyed the entire network of the gang.
Backward and Forward Links:
(1) Backward Link-Supplier from Ganja production unit in Odisha – Byomkesh Khatwa District Baout (Odisha),
(2) Gang involved in smuggling ganja from Odisha border to Bilaspur, Janjgir and other places- 5 accused arrested earlier on August 28
(3) Forward Link-Main Buyer who supplies Ganja in nearby area -Bhagwat Sahu Pihrid Sakti,
(4) Forward link – Ganja dealer for further supply and retail sale in Chhattisgarh – Deepak alias Nanhu Bharadwaj, Sakti (CG)
Seized Property:
I10 Car CG 11 BH-9507, Celerio Car CG 10 BS-1995, 06 Mobile, Cash Amount – Rs 7500 Total – Rs 17 Lakh.
Previous seizure: 175 Kg Ganja, 02 four wheelers, total seizure amount- 55 lakh rupees. That means property worth 72 lakhs has been seized till now.
Apart from the 5 accused arrested earlier, these three accused were arrested:
(1) Bhagwat Sahu, father, Hulsaram Sahu, age 36 years, resident of Village Pihrid, Police Station Sakti, District Sakti
(2) Deepak alias Nanhu Bharadwaj, son of Jagat Ram, 24 years, resident of village Puraina, police station Kharsia
(3) Vyom alias Vyomkesh Khatua father Sanjeet Khatua age 25 years resident of village Gudpada police station Bausani district Baut, Odisha
Let me tell you, Police Constable Kishore Sahu of village Sakra Sakti (Chhattisgarh) who was helping the gang, protecting them from police raids and giving confidential information to the accused, was also arrested.
Gang network, supply chain, modus operandi:
The main leader of the team of ganja smugglers is Bhagwat Sahu, who has been involved in the business of illegal ganja purchase and sale for the last several years. In the beginning, he used to buy 4-5 kg of ganja from a small supplier of Odisha and sell it in Chhattisgarh. Later, after getting in touch with a big ganja supplier Vyoma alias Vyomkesh from Odisha, he used to buy ganja in large quantities, transfer it to his vehicle at a secluded place and dump it in the house of an accused of his team. From there, he used to take out 15-20 kg of ganja initially and supply it to different states. Then he started supplying 1 quintal-2 quintals of ganja as per the demand. Santram and Bhagwat used to buy ganja from the Odisha party and come halfway with their companions, clearing the road so that they are not caught. Then further his other companions used to take the ganja and hide it in their secret hideouts and sell it. The gang used to sell ganja in Chhattisgarh and many states through transporting the goods. Bhagwat has been involved in the illegal trade of ganja for the last several years and has not been caught by the police till now.
After 05 accused of the gang were arrested in Jute Mill, District Raigad on 28th August, the rest of them became cautious, their entire channel was cut off from all contacts by switching off their mobile phones to avoid arrest. The accused have been caught in a sudden raid conducted by Raigad Police in different places.
After intensive interrogation of the main supplier Vyomkesh, many shocking facts have come to light in which he has disclosed a large network of illegal ganja production in the forests of district Baout Odisha and its surrounding districts. All the important facts extracted from the action by Raigarh Police are being shared with Odisha Police and National Narcotics Bureau so that this network of ganja can be completely destroyed.
Officers and employees involved in the action: DSP Cyber Cell Abhinav Upadhyay, SDOP Kharsia Prabhat Patel, Inspector Rakesh Mishra, Inspector Mohan Bhardwaj, Sub Inspector Girdhari Sao, Head Constable Satish Pathak, Krishna Gupta, Lomash Rajput, Amit Tirkey, Rajesh Patel of Cyber Cell, Durgesh Singh, Brijlal Gurjar, Constables – Abhishek Dwivedi, Prashant Panda, Mahesh Panda, Adikant Pradhan, Vikas Pradhan, Naveen Shukla, Sushil Yadav, Jitesh Chauhan, Ravindra Gupta, Lakheshwar Purseth, Shashi Bhushan Sahu were included.