Civic body gardener held for cultivating poppy plants in Delhi
Rakesh Kumar, a gardener with the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, was arrested on April 10 from Shriram Vartika, a North MCD park where he was posted for the past three years.
delhi Updated: Apr 18, 2019 14:54 ISTThe Central Bureau of Narcotics (CBN) arrested a 27-year-old civic agency gardener for ‘illegally cultivating opium poppy plants’ at a government park in northwest Delhi’s Pitampura.
Rakesh Kumar, a gardener with the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, was arrested on April 10 from Shriram Vartika, a North MCD park where he was posted for the past three years.
The CBN told a court they have “seized opium poppy plants” cultivated in an area of in 0.0750 hectare (0.18 acre) inside the park. The bureau also informed the court that Kumar admitted that he was cultivating opium for the past three years on the instructions of the park’s caretaker, Yashveer Choudhary. Kumar’s wife, Neetu, denied the allegations and said Kumar had never even “plucked a flower and brought it home”.
On April 11, the court sent Kumar to 14 days’ judicial custody. The CBN said Kumar has also admitted to some “incriminating facts”.
Kumar’s fellow gardeners said they were unaware that opium was being cultivated in their park. “The plant used to grow on its own. We used to think it is one of the many flowering varieties in the garden. Why would we grow it here, if we had known that it was opium?” Shridev, a privately employed gardener in Shriram Vatika, said.
Another resident, who did not wished to be named, said he has lived there for the past 38 years and he was unaware that the flowers they plucked and took to the temple were of the opium poppy plant.
Chowdhary, under whom Rakesh worked, said he did not cultivate the opium plants there. “It is a government park, and these are seasonal plants that used to grow on its own. They would die after blooming,” Chowdhary said.
A senior MCD official from the horticulture wing explained that opium plants can grow on their own. “Every year, when the seeds are dry, they fall and the next year, around the same time, when the conditions are suitable, they sprout,” he said. “These plants are ornamental poppy and can be found across Noida and Delhi in public parks,” he said.
First Published: Apr 18, 2019 14:54 IST