Tamil Nadu: Police freeze assets of ganja peddlers, kin convicted in 2017 case in Theni

THENI: As part of continuing drive to take economic action in ganja peddling cases, the Theni district police have frozen the illegally acquired assets belonging to ganja peddlers and their kin in a 2017 case as per the provisions of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
So far, similar freezing of illegal assets were done in five ganja peddling cases in Dindigul, Madurai and Theni districts but they were all only recent cases.
On March 12, 2017, acting on a tip-off, the Theni police searched and seized 220 Kgs of ganja from the farm of Murugan alias Keeripatti Murugan (52) from Kadamalaikundu near Myladumparai. Police arrested the accused for illegal possession of ganja and remanded him to judicial custody. Murugan was subsequently convicted for 10 years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 lakh was also levied on May 10, 2019.
In connection with the case, as per a statement on Tuesday, Asra Garg, Inspector General of Police (IG), South Zone and Rupesh Kumar Meena, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Dindigul Range instructed to conduct financial investigation of the illegally acquired properties of the accused and their relatives as per the NDPS Act. .
Dongare Pravin Umesh, Superintendent of Police (SP), Theni district supervised the investigation team, which had 10 special teams to probe the movable and immovable properties, vehicles, bank accounts and other financial transactions of the accused and his relatives. “They identified a house worth Rs 12 lakhs belonging to Nagaraj (Brother-in-law of the accused), vacant site worth Rs 10 lakhs belonging to Indirani (Sister of the accused) and a bike worth Rs 38,000 belonging to the accused. In total, illegally acquired assets worth around Rs 22.5 lakhs were freezed on Tuesday through a confirmation order,” the police said.
IG Asra Garg said that the freezing of illegal assets in this case in Theni is part of an ongoing drive to crackdown on ganja peddlers and that various actions are being taken against all ganja peddlers, including those who peddle ganja on a smaller scale to curb the crime. In Theni district, in 2022, a total of 66 ganja related cases have been registered while as much as 335 Kgs of ganja and 15 vehicles have been seized from the accused. A total of 123 accused have been arrested, of which 17 persons were detained under the Goondas Act.