ELURU : Eluru police arrested two persons, including a degree student, for peddling ganja at Vatluru village of Pedapadu mandal on Wednesday. As many as 10 students were also arrested when they were found smoking ganja.Addressing a media conference, Eluru DSP K Eswara Rao said that police had some information over the last few months that ganja smugglers were targeting students, particularly those from engineering and degree colleges. Following the information, special teams were formed to nab the culprits.
As part of the operation, a III Town police team, led by CI Srinivasa Rao, raided Peda Cheruvu area in Vatluru village and Housing Board Colony near Sir CR Reddy Engineering College and took a student into custody .
Based on his confession, a peddler Matte Praveen Kumar alias Chittu, a student of Government Degree College in Eluru and resident of Hanuman Junction, was arrested. During interrogation, Praveen confessed that his accomplice Veeranki Nageswara Rao of Ammapalem village in Pedavegi mandal, was the one who would procure ganja. On the information provided by Praveen and Nageswara Rao , police arrested the students who were addicted to ganja, the DSP stated.
The arrested including, Maganti Harshavardhan, Rayudu Dileep Chakravarti, Desina Vijayakumar, Mallampalli Chaitanya, Chikka Sudheer, Pathan Mohiddin and Kota Sai Sagar, all of them students of Ramachandra Engineering College, Pamarti Sai Kumar from Komadavole and a student of Government Degree College, Eluru, Veeramallu Varma of CRR Engineering College, and Thotti Mopidevi Prashant, Eluru Engineering.
The main accused, V Nageswra Rao, used to bring ganja Visakhapatnam Agency areas. He used Praveen Kumar to supply to engineering and degree students in and around Eluru city. The duo used to sell the weed for Rs 500 to the students. As many 600 students from the engineering and degree colleges were the customers of the duo.