Police to continue seizure of properties of ganja peddlers
The Hindu
Madurai
Police in southern districts will continue to seize properties of accused involved in ganja peddling and that of their close relatives, Inspector General of Police (South Zone), Asra Garg has said.
For the first time, the State police have used the provisions under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act for seizure of movable and immovable properties and freezing of bank accounts worth over ₹2.50 crore in three ganja cases reported in Madurai, Theni and Dindigul districts.
"The action by the police in April has been confirmed by the Competent Authority under the NDPS Act on Tuesday," Mr. Garg told reporters here on Wednesday.
The police had done laborious work in documenting the properties of the accused, their close relatives and accomplices. Besides, they took the help of officials from the Revenue, Public Works and Income Tax Departments during the process of seizing properties and freezing of bank accounts.
The work was personally supervised by senior police officials like Deputy Inspector Generals of Police and Superintendents of Police. The teams went into minute details with regard to the properties to verify whether the proceeds of the sale of ganja had been used in buying those properties.
"We have ensured that no property that has been bought through legitimate source of income is seized. Now that the competent authority has confirmed our action, the accused and the relatives cannot sell these properties and also cannot use the money in the frozen bank accounts," he said.
In one of the accounts of the accused, the police froze ₹10 lakh, Mr Garg said.
he Tamil Nadu Government will take appropriate decision to protect the welfare and livelihood of Manjolai tea estate workers as Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, which is managing the tea gardens for the past 90-odd years, is about to wind up its operations in near future, Speaker M. Appavu has said.