Hyderabad: Extortions by Ganja Addicts Remain as High as Ever

 Hyderabad: Walking on the streets in the twin cities after sunset is nothing but inviting trouble and risking life from ganja addicts. Many job-goers, especially women, complain that they have been facing threats from these addicts if they fail to give money to them.

Most of them are shabbily dressed habitual offenders, pickpockets and property offenders, who carry paper cutting blades and operate in public places. They follow their targets, including lonely women, intercept and demand money by displaying a paper cutter. Once the victim pays up, the individual is let off, investigation by Deccan Chronicle revealed.

“Most addicts turn violent or aggressive after consuming ganja. Most of those whom we interrogated for offences like murders and snatchings confessed that they had consumed ganja before committing the offence. Incidentally, as per IPC, if a person in an intoxicated condition commits a crime the conviction rate is low compared to an accused who commits similar offence in a normal condition. Even if the investigation officer mentions that the accused had consumed ganja prior to committing the offence we need to prove it in court”, a senior police official said.

“I hardly remember what I had done. Most of us threaten the passersby. We need money to buy ganja,” said Shankar, a ganja addict from a footpath in Secunderabad.

In most of the cases the accused goes absconding. By the time the police arrest him, he is in a normal state, which makes it difficult to prove the charges against him in court, the officer said.

On Friday night, an elderly person, Janarthan Naidu, was brutally attacked allegedly by ganja addicts, when he cautioned them against consuming ganja before his house in Kothapet. The police identified the attackers through CCTV footage and arrested them on Saturday. The attackers were not subjected to any narco analyser tests, reliable police sources said.

“It has become a nuisance to walk home after dawn, near Clock Tower towards Secunderabad railway station. Even women demand money in a threatening manner. If I refuse, they follow me till I give them money. They are very scary and dangerous”, M Sangeeta, a private employee said.

“Around 7.15 pm on March 19 I was walking towards Marredpally via JBS when two men who seemed drunk intercepted me. When I was about to give Rs 50 that they were demanding, a passerby approached me and asked if there was any problem. Seeing him, the two ran away,” said another female employee, adding that her female colleagues faced similar ordeals.

Around 60 per cent of the Sheelavathi ganja, which is dry compressed with hydrochloride, is smuggled to Goa, Pune, Mumbai, Karnataka and the rest is sold in the twin cities, one of the main suppliers said.

The peddlers buy the produce at Rs 2,500 to Rs 4,500 depending on the quality and sell the same for Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000. At times, it goes up to Rs 45,000 to Rs 40,000. The city-based Shaheen Begum and Majid Khan procure ganja from AP, Odisha and MP.

After gathering ganja from the cultivators, it is supplied to the peddlers. The interstate market runs into crores. The demand is always on the rise, said one of them.

• Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy says TSNAB sanctioned Rs 40 crore to curb drug menace; police stations to be set up for the bureau.
  
• The 5000-sq.km Rachakonda police commissionerate with four major highways running through it is the main gateway of ganja
• Ganja cultivators and suppliers say they are supplying tonnes of contraband to peddlers from the twin cities every week.
• Over 60 per cent of dry compressed ganja is smuggled to Goa, Pune, Mumbai, Karnataka, while 40 per cent is earmarked for the twin cities.
• Purchased in the Rs 2,500 to Rs 4,500 range, it is sold for prices touching Rs 45,000 depending on the quality
• Shaheen Begum and Majid Khan from the city procure ganja from AP, Orissa and MP
• Deccan Chronicle has identified over 75 spots where drug addicts operate, including railway stations, bus terminuses; around colleges and educational institutions. They are also at Bansilalpet, JBS circle, Tivoli road, Gopalapuram, Necklace Road, Maqtha, Chaitanyapuri, Amberpet, Ramanthapur, Raghavendranagar colony, Nacharam, Babanagar, Chilkanagar, Maniknagar and Bholakpur.