Mangaluru: The Principal District and Sessions Court, the designated NDPS court, awarded two persons with 10 years rigorous imprisonment and slapped a penalty of Rs 1 lakh each, after finding them guilty in a ganja peddling case, on Friday, September 28.

The convicted are Chandra Kumar alias Sinnavan alias Chandra alias Kumar (36), a resident of Nadugani village in the Nilagiri district in Tamil Nadu, and Shanthakumar alias Rooban of Gani Panchaluru village in the Nilagiri district in Tamil Nadu. According to the charge sheet, the then DySP of Bantwal sub-division Raveesh C R and District Crime Investigation Bureau (DCIB) inspector Amanullah were tipped off about ganja peddlers, loitering at the Dharmastala KSRTC bus stand on May 25, 2017. Following the information, a team of police rushed to Dharmastala and found Chandra Kumar and Shanthakumar holding a bag of ganja weighing around 20.135 kg and arrested them. The then sub-inspector of the Dharmastala police station Koragappa assisted the team in trapping the accused and filed a charge sheet with the court.

When it was time for the case to be heard at the Principal District and Sessions Court, Judge K S Bilagi upheld the arguments of Public Prosecutor Pushparaj Adyanthaya and convicted both the accused with 10 years rigorous imprisonment and slapped a penalty of Rs 1 lakh each. If both the accused are unable to pay the amount, they should undergo additional imprisonment of 6 months, the judge ruled. Though a woman, Tamiluselvi, was also arrested along with the two accused, she was acquitted due to lack of evidence.