Nagpur: The Nagpur rural police are probing links between marijuana peddlers and Maoists in Odisha after the arrest of marijuana kingpin Bhimsen Pangi alias Rupu from the highly sensitive Maoist den Koraput in Odisha last week. He was arrested in connection with the 500kg haul of narcotics in a Varanasi-bound truck near Buti Bori, in Nagpur district, in the month of January.
The rural cops, under SP Harssh A Poddar, feel the moneyed peddlers may be paying Maoists in return for ‘protection’ in their strongholds.Sources said the rural police had trapped Rupu at the tri-junction of three most sensitive Maoist districts of Koraput, Bolangir and Kalahandi in Odisha.
Rupu, who purchased the marijuana from poppy cultivators of these districts, would supply them across India. Nagpur rural police think Rupu’s illegal narco trade in Koraput cannot prosper without the support and connivance of the Maoists.
Rupu’s name had surfaced after the rural police’s local crime branch (LCB) had trapped his Varanasi-based receiver Aloke Singh, who later supplied the marijuana to the three eastern districts of Uttar Pradesh including Ghazipur and Chandrauli.
Singh had met Rupu and another in the jail where he had landed in 2016 after being arrested under the Dowry Prohibition Act. Singh had later met Rupu at Vizag and decided to work together since 2022. Around 35 trucks ferrying marijuana have been supplied by Rupu to Singh in Varanasi via Nagpur. The racket was exposed after the local crime branch (LCB) sleuths intercepted a truck and nabbed two persons.
Prior to the arrest by the rural police LCB, Singh has never been arrested in any case related to narcotics. It’s learnt even Rupu too had not been arrested in the past before being netted by the LCB.
The rural cops, under SP Harssh A Poddar, feel the moneyed peddlers may be paying Maoists in return for ‘protection’ in their strongholds.Sources said the rural police had trapped Rupu at the tri-junction of three most sensitive Maoist districts of Koraput, Bolangir and Kalahandi in Odisha.
Rupu, who purchased the marijuana from poppy cultivators of these districts, would supply them across India. Nagpur rural police think Rupu’s illegal narco trade in Koraput cannot prosper without the support and connivance of the Maoists.
Rupu’s name had surfaced after the rural police’s local crime branch (LCB) had trapped his Varanasi-based receiver Aloke Singh, who later supplied the marijuana to the three eastern districts of Uttar Pradesh including Ghazipur and Chandrauli.
Singh had met Rupu and another in the jail where he had landed in 2016 after being arrested under the Dowry Prohibition Act. Singh had later met Rupu at Vizag and decided to work together since 2022. Around 35 trucks ferrying marijuana have been supplied by Rupu to Singh in Varanasi via Nagpur. The racket was exposed after the local crime branch (LCB) sleuths intercepted a truck and nabbed two persons.
Prior to the arrest by the rural police LCB, Singh has never been arrested in any case related to narcotics. It’s learnt even Rupu too had not been arrested in the past before being netted by the LCB.