The city police have for the first time got the properties of a narcotics peddler attached and his family’s bank accounts frozen. The police have attached ₹50-lakh worth agricultural land and ₹3 lakh in various bank accounts linked to the peddler.
Mallesh G., a ganja peddler from Pushpapura village in Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar district, was arrested by the Konanakunte Cross police for peddling ganja in the city in 2018. He is a habitual offender and has seven cases pending against him in Bengaluru, Mysuru, and Chamarajanagar districts between 2014 and 2022. He used to buy ganja at lower prices from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha and peddle them in the State.
City Police Commissioner C.H. Pratap Reddy transferred the probe into the 2018 Konanakunte Cross case to the Anti-Narcotics Bureau of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) to be probed under Sections 68 (e) and (f) of Chapter 5A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, which provide for attachment of assets of habitual drug traffickers. Taking up a probe under the relevant sections, the Anti-Narcotics Bureau ordered a provisional attachment of assets of Mallesh — 8 acres of agricultural land in Shagya village, Chamarajanagar, which he had bought in the name of his wife and children in 2013, worth ₹50 lakh now, and ₹3 lakh kept in five bank accounts of his and his family members.
As per procedure, the police submitted the provisional attachment order to the Competent Authority for Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976, and the NDPS Act, 1985, in Chennai. The Competent Authority inquired into it within the stipulated 30 days and confirmed the order on Friday.
The inquiry held by the Competent Authority revealed lakhs of rupees accrued in various bank accounts held by Mallesh and his family members and that several large sums of money have been credited to these accounts through electronic means but he has suppressed the income without declaring it to the Income Tax Department.
