Weed oil enters Hyderabad’s underbelly

In one of the first seizures of its kind, about two litres of marijuana oil worth nearly Rs 8 lakh was seized, and two persons, including a B Tech graduate, were arrested in Hyderabad on Saturday.

One drop of marijuana oil on a cigarette was enough to cause narco effects on a person, officials said. According to the Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) Department, the suspects — B Tech graduate Boddu Achyuth Govind (25), of Ameenpur; and his associate Murali Krishna Susheel (32), of Chaitanyapuri — were caught red-handed selling the marijuana oil by camouflaging it as honey and food colour in small bottles. Officials raided Sunway Opus Residency where the duo was living for the last five months.

Addressing a press conference here, V&E Superintendent of Police T Annapurna said two litres of marijuana oil, worth Rs 7.8 lakh, was found packed in half-litre honey bottles, while two mobile phones and electronic weighing machines were also seized during the raid.

The arrested persons admitted that they were selling the oil to clients, especially to college students and IT employees, at the behest of prime suspect Kamalesh Kumar, who is at large. The duo also told the V&E officials that Kumar, hailing from Visakhapatnam, procured the oil from the Visakhapatnam Agency area and was selling it to customers in Hyderabad by filling it in 10 ml-bottles for Rs 3,000 each.

Both Govind and Susheel were also supplying the material in bulk to customers known to them. Kumar’s friend Manohar is also wanted in the case. Govind and Manohar used to look after the business in the absence of Kumar, while Susheel was a bulk purchaser.

Susheel would sell the oil by filling it in small bottles in Bengaluru where he was staying. Annapurna said Susheel was earlier arrested by the Task Force for his alleged involvement in a drugs case in Hyderabad. The V&E officials handed over the arrested persons along with the seized material to the Ameenpur police for further investigation.

Marijuana racket busted

A tip-off given by an engineering college student helped the Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) Department bust a marijuana racket in a villa at Ameenpur on the city suburbs and arrest two persons, including a B Tech graduate.

After getting the information, a V&E team kept surveillance on those arriving and leaving the villa at Sunway Opus Residence.

“We watched the movements of those visiting the villa for four days. After getting confirmation that marijuana was being sold inside the premises, we conducted raids,” said an official, who took part in the operation.

For four days, different types of people, mostly youngsters used to travel on the same motorcycle that had on it a sticker given by the management of Sunway Opus Residence for those staying in their premises.

Vehicles with the sticker were not checked by the security guards. Taking advantage of this, the B Tech graduate Boddu Achyuth Govind (25) of Ameenpur and Murali Krishna Susheel (32) of Chaitanyapuri allegedly used to get the clients to their house to sell marijuana oil filled in small honey and food colour bottles.

The duo was taken by surprise when the V&E team entered the premises. “We



immediately took them into our custody and seized the bottles. Both Govind and Susheel were later handed over to the Ameenpur police for further investigation,” the official said.

Officials of the Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda Police Commissionerates along with the Prohibition and Excise Department, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) earlier busted several marijuana rackets.

In some cases, suspects were found cultivating marijuana plants on the terrace of the building while in other cases, a couple of persons were arrested for selling chocolates laced with marijuana. However, for the first time, a gang was found to be selling marijuana oil here.

“We will be able to get more details about the racket once we nab the prime suspect Kamlesh Kumar from Visakhapatnam and his associate Manohar,” an official said.

He said Kumar was getting oil from Visakhapatnam either through his own vehicle or bus and handing it over to Govind and Susheel for selling it in the city. Kumar was paying a rent of Rs 15,000 for the portion in the villa.

Govind claimed that he was assisting Kumar to meet his financial expenses.

‘SIT failed to bring 2017 case to its logical conclusion’

As the drug mafia is slowly spreading its tentacles to schools targeting the youth, serious action has to be taken before Telangana becomes like Punjab, said Forum for Good Governance Secretary M Padmanabha Reddy here.

In a memorandum addressed to the Chief Secretary, he said the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that was constituted after a major drug racket was busted in 2017 had failed to bring the case to a logical conclusion.

It had recorded the statements of 62 people apart from collecting nail and hair samples. However, after creating a hype in the media, the SIT failed to bring the case to its logical conclusion, Reddy said.

A series of stories made rounds that peddlers were supplying drugs to the people in film industry and to a few corporate schools. Based on information provided by the suspects, the SIT started interrogation of suspects and issued notices.

It examined 62 people, most of them connected to the film industry. As per media reports, SIT collected samples of nail and hair to identify drug addicts. However, nearly two years after busting the racket, there was little progress in the investigation. There were some fundamental flaws in dealing with the case leading to escape of the accused, he said.

Generally, whenever a SIT was constituted, it is headed by a senior most officer. For example, for enquiring the liquor scam, Director-General of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) headed the SIT. After a detailed probe, the SIT suggested for action against 1,119 officers and 48 cases have been registered. In slain gangster Nayeem’s case, a senior police official was heading the SIT and the probe is still on.

But in the drugs case, the SIT comprised junior officers and had failed to book film personalities and those with political clout. As on date, only in four cases, the accused persons, who possessed drugs, were charge sheeted, he said, adding that the SIT also could not trace out the local contact persons or the actual consumers in the film industry.