A 65-year-old farmer from Marali village in Kolhapur's Panhala tehsil has been arrested by the local crime branch for illegally cultivating ganja plants in his sugarcane fields. Bhikaji Patil was taken into custody after a team of Local Crime Branch (LCB) personnel conducted a search of his farmland based on a tip-off.
Seizure of Ganja Plants
During the operation, the LCB team discovered chopped ganja plants hidden among the sugarcane crop. The recovered plants weighed approximately 25 kilograms and were expected to yield ganja worth around Rs 2.4 lakh in the market. The authorities have registered a case against Patil at the Kale police station under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Legal Action and Investigation
The police have initiated further investigations to ascertain whether Patil was acting alone or had connections with a larger drug trafficking network. The seizure highlights the ongoing challenge of drug cultivation in rural areas, where farmers sometimes resort to such illegal activities for financial gain. The accused has been produced before the local court and remanded to police custody.
