Pune traffic constable held in Telangana with 12 kg ganja, suspended

A Pune city traffic constable has been arrested in Telangana for carrying 12 kg of ganja on a train. The Pune Police Commissioner has suspended him with immediate effect and begun the process of dismissing him from service.

The accused is Nitin Shinde, 33, a resident of Pune. One filing spells his middle name Gyanu and another Dnyanu. He was attached to the Vishrambaug traffic division of the city's traffic branch, where he had served for about a year and a half. A case has been registered against him under the narcotics law at the Nekkonda police station in Telangana. The station's name is also spelt Nekunda in some accounts.

According to the police account, Shinde had gone on medical leave. The start date of that leave is reported differently: it is given as October 7 in one account and October 8 in another, and some reports say October 5. During the leave, he is said to have travelled to Odisha and bought a consignment of ganja there, planning to carry it to Maharashtra by rail.

On Sunday, October 25, he got off the train near Nekkonda railway station in Telangana's Warangal district. Local police noticed his suspicious behaviour and detained him. A search of his bag turned up 12 kg of dry ganja, said to be worth about Rs 6 lakh. Three mobile phones were also seized from him. Telangana Police then informed their Pune counterparts, and the matter came to light within the department.

His plan, as reported, was to bring the ganja to Maharashtra, meaning Pune, through Telangana and hand it over to various drug peddlers. It is still not clear who the intended recipients were, or whether anyone else is involved.

Investigators are examining the call detail records and WhatsApp chats on the three phones, to learn whom he dealt with in Odisha and to whom he meant to sell the drug in Maharashtra. Warangal police are searching for the entire network. They are also checking whether he has made such trips before, using his police identity card or the cover of his khaki uniform, and whether anyone else from Pune Police or from other states is part of an interstate racket.

Commissioner Amitesh Kumar did not stop at the suspension. A Pune Police team is gathering information on Shinde's contacts in the city, while Telangana Police carry on their own inquiry into the smuggling chain.

After his arrest, Shinde was produced before a local court in Telangana, which sent him to judicial custody. Police want to question him further to get to the roots of the racket, and an application is likely to be moved in court to take him into police custody.

The case has caused a major stir in Pune, where a member of the force has been found smuggling the drug he is meant to police against.

A similar case has been reported from Mira-Bhayander. During a drive against the sale of narcotics there, Head Constable Prakash Pawar was arrested for selling MD drugs. MD drugs, cash, a two-wheeler and mobile phones, together valued at Rs 1,32,550, were seized from him and his alleged associate Akhilesh Kumar.

Police Commissioner Aniket Kaushik had vowed to make Mira-Bhayander drug-free. With one of the people charged with acting against the trade now accused of dealing in it, questions are being raised about the impact of that campaign. Narcotics sale was already a serious problem in the area.