Telangana CM urges TSNAB to improve conviction rates

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday called for making Telangana a drug free state. After a review meeting with heads of various police departments here, the CM said, the Telangana State Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TSNAB ) should stand first in the country in drug detection, investigation and convictions for which the government is committed to providing all sorts of financial and logistic support.

After taking oath as chief minister, Raventh Reddy on May 25 had conducted a joint meeting with senior police officials including state DGP, heads of tri- commissionerate, CCS, Cybercrime, Economic Offences Wing (EOW) to explore measures to enhance the law and order situation in the state.

The CM was very particular about drugs detection and enhancement of conviction rates. Promising all support to the department, he said police should act proactively to increase detection, arrests and conviction rates.

The government sanctioned Rs40 crore to TSNAB for improving its logistics, and technology upgradation. The CM said TSNAB officials should investigate cases pro-actively and set an example for others. To drive home the point, he cited the example how SIB and greyhounds coordinated to curb the Maoist menace.

Expressing concern at the low conviction rate in TSNAB cases, the CM urged officials to improve investigation and break the nexus involving consumers, peddlers, transporters and bulk suppliers including those from foreign countries where synthetic drugs are smuggled from, a police official present at the review meeting said.

The reason for low conviction in TSNAB is that during prosecution, the court asks for scientific evidence to nail an accused. In several recent cases, it was found that consumers wash out the drug from their bodies before surrendering themselves before police, making it difficult for the narcotics bureau to collect samples and prove the offence.

If there is a spot detection and collection of samples, the conviction rate will increase based on the scientific evidence exhibited before a court, an FSL official said.

The CM said the TSB has a current strength of 300 and the government is planning to fill up 124 executive officers within 30 days. The government has allotted 87 vehicles to TSNAB including Inova, Bolero and other vehicles with private numbers.

The CM said the government has planned to import high-cost gadgets including narco-analysers from Israel and German that cost between Rs1 lakh and Rs15.5 lakh per piece.