4 held in raid at drug packaging factory in Noida slum
Noida (UP), Dec 26 : Three persons were arrested and a minor apprehended by police, which claimed Wednesday to have busted an illegal cannabis packaging factory here.
Nearly 31 kg of cannabis was seized during a post-midnight raid in a slum under Sector 20 police station limits Tuesday, police said.
Police said so far since August this year, four such factories have been busted and 246 kg cannabis along with 700 packets of smack have been seized in raids in city areas under Sector 20 police station.
"As many as 51 people have been arrested in police crackdown on drugs since August and Rs 2.85 lakh earned through drug sales seized from them," Circle Officer, Noida City 1st, Amit Kishor Shrivastava told reporters.
On Wednesday's arrests, he said a police team was conducting a routine vehicle checking near the Bas Balli T-point in Sector 9 when they were tipped-off about the illegal factory operating nearby.
"Around 12.30 am, officials raided a hut in the slum and three men were arrested while a minor detained," Shrivastava said.
He said Rs 23,800, a weighing machine, 8.9 kg plastic for making packets and machine for sealing and packaging the drugs were seized from the spot.
Those arrested have been identified as Vijay Pathak, Kishor alias Lala and Piyush Rajput, he said, adding that the minor would help with the packaging work.
The accused would not only smuggle the drugs into the city but also distribute it locally through their widespread network, which runs from slums and JJ clusters. They would pack the drugs in packets of different sizes and sell them for Rs 100, Rs 150 and Rs 200.
"The drugs were being procured from Odisha and being brought to NCR in four-wheelers. They would purchase them at cheap prices - Rs 3,000-4,000 - and then sell them for Rs 10,000-Rs 15,000 per kg," Shrivastava said.
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Nashik court sends ‘godman’ Kharat to 3-day police custody in 7th sexual exploitation case
Nashik (PTI): A court in Maharashtra's Nashik has remanded self-styled astrologer-cum-godman Ashok Kharat to police custody till April 29 in the seventh case of sexual exploitation registered against him.
Kharat, a former Merchant Navy officer arrested on March 18, is accused of sexually exploiting several women and indulging in large-scale financial fraud by claiming to have divine powers and knowledge of black magic.
In the seventh case, Kharat sexually exploited a married woman who had approached him in search of solutions to her family problems.
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The accused allegedly gave the woman something to drink, sexually assaulted her while her husband sat outside his office and threatened to kill her if she told anyone about it.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing into 12 cases of sexual exploitation and financial fraud registered against Kharat in Nashik and Ahilyanagar districts, on Sunday filed a request application in the court demanding his custody in the seventh case.
Kharat was produced in court for a virtual hearing in the seventh case on Monday.
The prosecution demanded six-day police custody for Kharat, citing the discovery of a locker in Kharat's house during the investigation, from which the police recovered two blank cheques and other documents, all of which have to be probed.
The court agreed to the prosecution's demand and remanded Kharat to three-day police custody till April 29 in the case.
Kharat has been at the centre of a political firestorm, as he was well-connected, and photographs of him with political leaders and other important members of society have been surfacing in mainstream and social media since his arrest.
