Pune cops nab G’chiroli students doubling up as ganja peddlers

Nagpur: The arrest last week of three students of Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Pune, all from Gadchiroli, for possessing substantial quantities of ganja has put security forces deployed in the Maoists-affected tribal district on alert.
The cops are now trying to ascertain if ganja is being illegally cultivated in the deep forests in connivance with Maoists and other racketeers, or Gadchiroli is being used as a transit route from Chhattisgarh to western Maharashtra via Nagpur.

Gadchiroli, notorious for Maoist violence and bootlegging, has never been associated with narcotics in the past. But the arrest of three students in two different cases has changed things.
One Pankaj Madavi was caught with 36kg ganja by the anti-narcotics cell near Ambegaon Budruk. Two others — Ram Bais and Nikesh Anole, along with one Hritik Tenbhurne — were nabbed with 55kg ganja by Chandan Nagar police. Bais and Anole are from Gadchiroli, it’s learnt.
Madavi’s father works with the forest department while his mother is an anganwadi sevika in Gadchiroli. They are natives of Maseli in Korchi taluka. Madavi claimed to have brought the ganja from someone in Malegaon twice in the past too.
The Gadchiroli police are learnt to be rushing to Pune to interrogate the accused.
Deputy inspector General of police, Naxal range, and anti-Naxal operations (ANO) chief, Sandip Patil said it’s too premature to comment on the issue. He added that in Naxal-affected Odisha it’s common practice to grow and supply ganja in nexus with the Maoists. “We are still verifying the details. The SP (Neelotpal) is working on it,” said Patil.
Neelotpal said that the Gadchiroli police are collecting information from the Pune polices’ investigation officers.