Police intensify checks for banned narcotic substances among sadhus in Tiruvannamalai

Tiruvannamalai police intensify checks on sadhus for narcotics near Arunachaleswara temple; arrests made for selling ganja to visitors.

The Tiruvannamalai police have intensified checks among sadhus, who stay on the 14-km-long Girivalam path near Arunachaleswara temple for possession of banned narcotic substances, on Sunday.

The initiative comes after Tiruvannamalai West police arrested two sadhus on the path for selling ganja to temple visitors. The arrested persons were identified as K. Shanmugam, 67, and G. Magesh, 25.

The police have seized around 100 gm of ganja from Shanmugam. Initial inquiry revealed that Shanmugam procured ganja from Andhra Pradesh, mainly to sell them in the local market and to tourists. Similar arrests have been made in the past.

The police have launched massive checks in the town especially near ashrams and Arunachaleswara temple, following their arrest. At present, the town has around 300 sadhus, mainly between Chengam Road and Abayapuram, on Girivalam path. Most of them are from the southern districts. They stay in free shelters provided by NGOs and the temple.

During the pandemic, most of them were deprived of proper accommodation and food. As there were no visitors due to the restrictions, they stayed on the pavement along the path. When normalcy returned, the flow of devotees increased.

Two years ago, the then Tiruvannamalai SP initiated recording of fingerprints and photographs of sadhus in the town to have a database for security purposes. The fingerprints were sent to National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS), which is maintained by New Delhi-based Central Fingerprint Bureau (CFPB) to ascertain if they had criminal records.

Other personal details of sadhus like name, age and place of birth were also recorded. A plan to issue a unique identity card with QR code, which cannot be duplicated, to registered sadhus was also made. However, police sources said that, since then, no efforts have been made to update the database and that they failed to conduct frequent inspections.