Ganja racket run by mom-son duo busted in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Narcotics Bureau (TS-NAB) along with Golconda Police nabbed Kalapathi Gowtham Singh, his mother Kalapathi Nithubai, both ganja peddlers and their two associates including a teenager and seized 23 kg of ganja from them on Wednesday.

The TS-NAB also found that Nithubai has acquired two buildings — one each at Gachibowli and Langar Houz, valued at around Rs 2 crore — with the money earned from supplying ganja in different parts of the city. Sixteen bank accounts with deposits of Rs 1.53 crore, operated by the accused, cash of Rs 40 lakh, an SUV, a sports bike and other material, all worth Rs 4 crore were seized during the operation, said SP Gummi Chakravarthy.

Six others associated with the gang are absconding, he said. Chakravarthy said Gowtham Singh was involved in one ganja peddling case and Nithubai is involved in six related cases. She was also detained under the PD Act. After completing detention, he again started supplying the banned substance.

They purchase drugs in bulk for Rs 8,000 per kilogram from their sources in Dhoolpet and after making sachets of 5 gm each they are selling for Rs 250 per sachet. Approximately they are earning Rs 50,000 per sale of a kg of the drug.

The police attached properties owned by the family under SAFEMA Act, which enabled law enforcement agencies to forfeit illegally acquired properties of smugglers and foreign exchange manipulators.