Police seize 35kg ganja in separate incidents, seven arrested

Kochi: Ernakulam rural police made two more major ganja seizures on Tuesday.According to police, major drug busts occurred at two locations in Aluva. In the first incident, Sujan Mandal, 31, Inafool Mandal, 26, and Mafeekul Mandal, 25, from Murshidabad, West Bengal, along with Asad, 41, from Aluva, were caught with 25kg of cannabis while travelling in an autorickshaw at Thottakkattukara. Additionally, police also arrested Rakesh Mandal, 25, Bappi Biswas, 28, and Mafikul Biswas, 22, from Murshidabad were apprehended with 10kg of ganja at Desam. The arrests were made by a special investigation team, led by district police chief KS Sudarshan. According to police, the seized contraband was transported from Odisha by train. The first group was caught on their way from Angamaly to Aluva. They claimed the ganja was brought for the auto driver Asad, who was paying Rs 18,000 per kg. The second group was caught at Desam while travelling from Angamaly to Kuttamassery. The ganja was hidden in a bag wrapped in clothes. Man held for theft: Aluva police arrested a 41-year-old man in connection with the assault and theft of an ATM card. The arrested person is Ratheesh, 41, from Kattappana, Idukki. He was arrested around 11pm on Monday. Police said that he attacked a Kanjoor resident, who was standing near the footbridge near Aluva Palace area. The accused then snatched his ATM card. The investigation was conducted by inspector K G Gopakumar, sub-inspectors Sajeesh and Vinilkumar, assistant sub-inspector Swapna and CPO Aravind. Meanwhile, a 41-year-old man was arrested for an attempted theft at a convent in Aluva on early Tuesday morning. The accused person is Tarunmunda, a native of Sivasagar, Assam. The investigation team included inspector K G Gopakumar, SIs K K Abdul Rahman and Sajeesh, ASI Abdul Jaleel and CPO Aravind. Two cops suspended: Two police officers were suspended following Supreme Court's directive for failing to register a case on a Dalit woman's complaint. The officers suspended are former Panangad station house officer (now Aroor SHO) Bibindas and Panangad SI Muneer.According to reports, a six-member group attacked the 28-year-old woman from Chathamma, Panangad, because she married a Christian man. The attackers stopped the woman, who was with two others, on the road, verbally abused her, grabbed her hand and assaulted her with sticks. The woman also alleged that she was physically harassed with sexual intent. The accused are Tiben Xavier, Johnson, Joshi, Nithin, Thomas and another identifiable person from Kumbalam. Following the incident, both the woman and the attackers approached police with complaints. However, police registered a case only on the attackers' complaint. Consequently, one of the two persons, who was allegedly attacked by the gang, approached Supreme Court with an anticipatory bail application. During hearing, it came to the court's attention that the police had not registered a case based on the complaint filed by the Dalit woman. To investigate this, the court summoned Kochi city police assistant commissioner and requested an affidavit. Subsequently, the court ordered the registration of a case based on the woman's complaint and action against the police officers who failed to register it.