Hyderabad police go to investigate road accident, find 300 kg ganja in car

A case of rash driving and negligence that the Rachakonda police in Hyderabad were investigating soon turned into a drug bust when the police found ganja (cannabis) being smuggled inside a vehicle involved in a car crash. On Monday, June 13, the police received information that an Innova, which had a Delhi registration number and a ‘Government of India’ number plate, had met with an accident with a lorry on the city’s Nehru Outer Ring Road (ORR).

The Innova had crashed into a lorry from behind and visuals show that the front of the car was mangled due to the impact of the accident. When the police reached the spot, and conducted a basic inspection, they found that two of the four people inside the Innova were injured and unconscious, while two others had managed to escape and were missing, and there were packets of ganja worth Rs 2.5 crore in the rear.

The accident took place on Nehru ORR, on the outskirts of Yadagarpally village of Keesara mandal near Shamirpet. The police said that the driver of Innova was driving the car rashly and collided with a lorry ahead (MH-10-BR-6689). Two people — 25-year-old Shivam Dubey and 32-year-old Durgesh Pandey — were found by the police sitting inside the car on the front seats. They had sustained multiple bleeding injuries and were unconscious, the police said. When the police examined the Innova, they found 300 kgs of ganja packed in 30 different packets, each weighing about 10 kgs. These were kept on the rear portion of the vehicle, a release from the police said. The police added that after the accident, Shivam and Durgesh were in an unconscious state and could not respond to initial queries about the contraband.

The police found that Shivam hails from a village in Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh. The police have also managed to identify one of the people who fled the car — 28-year-old Sonu Pandey, also a resident of Pratapgarh.

“As per the restaurant bills available with the accused persons, it also seems that they purchased the ganja under the limits of the Araku Agency Area of Andhra Pradesh state and were transporting the same to Uttar Pradesh to earn easy money,” the police said. The police added that the accused persons decided to paste a sticker labelled ‘Government of India’ on the number plate to disguise themselves as government servants. More information will be collected once the injured accused persons recover, and when the fourth absconding accused is nabbed, the police said.

A case has been registered by the Keesara police station against three accused Shivam, Sonu and Durgesh — as well as a fourth unnamed accused under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. They have been charged for illegal inter-state transport of a quantity of cannabis that is lesser than a commercial quantity but greater than a small quantity. Under this section, the accused persons face ten years in jail and a fine which may extend to Rs 1 lakh.

The Keesara police inspector has also seized the Innova vehicle along with the 300 kgs of ganja under the cover of panchnama in the presence of mediators. Attempts are being made to locate the fourth absconding accused, the police said.