JIPMER doctor, Russian national among seven held for peddling ganja

PUDUCHERRY: Seven persons, including a doctor working in JIPMER and a Russian national residing at Auroville, were arrested for selling and abusing ganja and ketamine, used for pain relief and anaesthesia, on Thursday.

Inspector Suresh Babu said the arrests followed a raid at a lodge on 100-feet Road, when a girl from Bengaluru and a youth from Nettapakkam were found with ganja and drug syringes in the room. Inquiries with the youth, Devanathan, and the woman led to Ivan, the Russian national who allegedly supplied the ganja and ketamine injections to Devanathan.

According to police, Ivan had said that he bought ketamine and ganja from Felix (32) of Lawspet, who also supplied LSD and MDMA at Auroville and JIPMER. Soon, Felix was nabbed and it was found that he supplied ganja to Dr Duraiarasan, a doctor working at the JIPMER Anaesthesia Department and in return, received ketamine injections used for anesthetic purposes during surgery, from the doctor.

Duraiarasan not only indulged in drug abuse himself, but also supplied drugs to other doctors, said the police. Felix also told police that he obtained ganja from Parthsarathy (23) of Villianur. Police seized ganja from Felix and five ampoules of ketamine from Duraiarasan.