Bhubaneswar: Man facing trial in murder case arrested for drug peddling

A man facing trial in a murder case and bailed out after four years of judicial custody, was arrested on Wednesday under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act provisions with the recovery of 170 kilograms of cannabis, locally called ganja, from his possession.

The accused Mahendra Behera was arrested near P.N.High school in Jatani on the outskirts of the city with the contraband. He was smuggling the banned



substances in a luxury vehicle when the STF sleuths acting on a tipoff intercepted him with the drug haul, a senior official of Special Task Force (STF) of the crime branch said.

The arrested drug paddler Behera was earlier booked in a murder case in the Jatni police station area and was in judicial custody for more than four years. Bailed out in the murder case, Behera, still facing trial under section-302 IPC, had resorted to drug peddling.