Thrissur: Man held with 3,000 Hans packets gets bail

Thrissur: A man arrested the previous night with 3,000 packets of banned Hans brand of chewing tobacco meant for selling among schoolchildren managed to get bail on Monday. A police team led by Chalakkudy circle inspector M.K. Krishnan, acting on a tip-off, had picked up Puthenvelikkara Kaimathuruthi Veetil Arun, 47, while trying to escape in his car. Residents told DC that he used to supply the stuff in Puthenvelikkara and North Paravur in bulk.

Even though the police had charged him under provisions of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) and Kerala Police Act in the remand report, the Chalakkudy Judicial Magistrate released him on bail after paying a nominal amount as fine. Police said they had sought his remand considering the vast quantity of the substance he had brought from Tamil Nadu. He was also reluctant to divulge more on his wholesale trade. But they could not slap non-bailable charges on him as he was not arrested from near school premises.