CHENNAI: The proverbial long arm of the law has eventually caught up with Virugambakkam-based vegetable seller-turned-ganja peddler L Ravi (64).
Seven-and-a-half years after a trial court acquitted him in a ganja case, the investigation of which was messed up by Chennai police, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) managed to secure a 12-year sentence for Ravi and three others on May 9 in another case filed in 2019.
Ravi and four others were acquitted in December 2016 after the Choolaimedu police failed to prove his role in the seizure of 60 kg ganja, with the trial court picking up holes in the documentation of the investigation procedures.
However, the NCB was able to prove his role beyond doubt before Principal Judge of the NDPS Special Court C Thirumagal, in the September 20, 2019 seizure of 303 kg ganja at Karanodai toll plaza on the GNT Road on the outskirts of Chennai.
The investigators nabbed M Manogaran (38), a native of Madurai and M Vijayakumaran (50), and T Chandran from Theni when they were travelling from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to Madurai via Chennai with the ganja consignment loaded in an SUV. It was later found that the vehicle had a fake registration number plate.
They had stopped at the toll plaza and were handing over 25 kg of the cannabis to Ravi when the NCB sleuths apprehended them.
A search at Ravi’s home later also yielded 250 gm of ganja.
According to NCB, the ganja operation was funded by Madurai resident P Ramesh, a restaurateur-turned-money lender facing losses in his business, akin to Ravi, who shifted to ganja peddling as he didn’t earn enough from selling vegetables.
NCB said Manogaran befriended Ramesh while working as a painter at his restaurant and spoke about his ganja business. Ramesh agreed to Manogaran’s proposal to pump money into the business and lent a few lakhs of rupees on a profit-sharing basis for ganja trafficking.
In fact, the prosecution noted Ramesh earned a profit of Rs 2 lakh on an investment of Rs 5 lakh within a gap of 15-20 days.
While NCB produced phone records to prove an active connection between the five accused, the court accepted their evidence of financial transactions between Manogaran and Ramesh, despite the latter’s counsel rejecting the charge of him funding the illicit trafficking.
NCB also contended that Ramesh gave his debit card and arranged the SUV for transporting the narcotics from Vizag to Madurai, after Manogaran ratted him out in his voluntary statement before the agency.
The charges against Chandran abated as he died before completion of trial.
Manogaran, Vijayakumaran, Ravi and Chandran were slapped with a 12-year sentence by the court.