3 Senior Citizens among 5 Held in Ganja Case in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Three senior citizens, including a 78-year-old man and a 66-year-old woman, were among the five persons, who were caught by the special crime team of Central Crime Station (CCS) of Hyderabad police in connection with a ganja smuggling case.

The Gandhinagar police also assisted the CCS sleuths in arresting the accused identified as Rajaram Swami Kannu Padaiyachi (78), Santosh Balaram Prajapathi (65), Vijayalaxmi Kaliyamurti Pellai (66), Silmina Kujur (36) and Sheela Devi (48), all residing in Mumbai and Thane.

While Rajaram is an employee in homestay, Santosh is a coolie and Silmina and Sheela Devi were working as maids. Vijayalaxmi is their acquaintance. They were acting as transporters of ganja from Araku near Visakhapatnam to Mumbai.

As per instructions of their contact person, they procure large quantities of dry ganja, packed in brown-coloured parcel covers, from Araku. They transport parcels to Hyderabad by bus and, from Hyderabad, board another bus to Mumbai.

Upon reaching Mumbai, they deliver parcels at designated locations as instructed by the contact person. These transporters would get commission for each delivery. The accused also have previous criminal history of ganja transportation, said Additional Commissioner of Police, Crimes, M Srinivasulu.

He said that for each delivery, the accused would be paid approximately Rs.10,000 to Rs.12,000. Officials said the prime accused Gopi, who is absconding, was using the senior citizens and women as transporters believing that the police would maintain less surveillance on them thereby helping in smuggling the contraband easily.