Kashi’s tourist guide, tattoo artist caught with ganja in Kothagudem

Kothagudem police arrested two persons, including a tourist guide and a tattoo artist from Kashi, for possessing ganja worth Rs 4.99 lakh. The accused procured the contraband from the AP-Odisha border and were caught during their return journey

Kothagudem: Kothagudem one-town police have arrested a tourist guide and a tattoo artist working at the ghats of river Ganges at Kashi (Varanasi), Uttar Pradesh, for possessing ganja worth Rs 4.99 lakh.

Speaking to the media here on Sunday, Kothagudem Deputy Superintendent of Police L Adinarayana informed that the accused, Muthyam Ramu Yadav and Ramakrishna Pavan Kumar, were caught on Saturday evening along with ganja at Patha Kothagudem.

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Ramu Yadav, of Meerpet area in Hyderabad, who works as a tourist guide at Kashi, befriended Pavan Kumar, a tattoo artist at Kashi’s Shivala Ghat and a native of Bengaluru, Karnataka. They both became habituated to ganja consumption, the DSP said.

They learnt that ganja could be bought at a lower price at Seleru near Darakonda on the AP-Odisha border. In order to procure the substance, they embarked on a journey from Kashi on March 18 to reach Hyderabad.

They hired a motorbike for a daily rent of Rs 1000 in Hyderabad, left for Seleru on March 21 and reached the place the next day. They bought five packets of ganja weighing 9.9 kg, paying Rs 28,000, from an unidentified person and were caught on their return journey to Hyderabad, he said.

DSP Adinarayana further informed that special teams would be formed to check ganja consumption under the limits of Kothagudem police sub-division. The teams would catch those consuming ganja and register cases against them.

The one-town Inspector of Police Karunakar and SI Rakesh were present.