BHUBANESWAR : The gruesome murder of sanitation supervisor Sahadev Nayak has brought into focus the growing spectre of brown sugar trade in Bhubaneswar. It has also raised serious posers about the efficacy of dedicated units and a bouquet of programmes aimed at checking such illegal activities in slum settlements of the capital.
Commissionerate Police has special units such as QAT, special squad and Team 60 to take on such organised crime. It also runs Operation White Spider, a special initiative against drug trade. This apart, the special crime unit (SCU) was upgraded to a full-fledged police station in 2023 with jurisdiction covering the entire area of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate Police. SCU had started functioning the same year to take on organised crime, smuggling of drugs and economic offences.
Yet, the business of brown sugar has proliferated, taking more and more youngsters in its vicious grip. And most of the trade is run from the slum settlements. Sources said women who would earlier work as domestic help have now entered the drugs trade to make easy money. In many instances, police have found that after a peddler is arrested, family members get into the trade. They mostly run the business from their houses constructed illegally on government land.
Not that Bhubaneswar police is not seized of the growing menace but has turned a blind eye to the growing footprint. The period seizures have not been effective as the smuggling and peddling network has only grown stronger with ‘paan’ shops turning into drug vending points.
Between January 2023 and August last year, police seized about 1.80 kg brown sugar and over 19 quintal ganja. “The seizure is only a tip of the iceberg. The actual volume of drug circulating would be in multiples,” said a former police officer.
In 2021, police launched Basti Ku Chala, a community policing initiative to strengthen outreach in slums across the city. The strategy was to involve slum dwellers to act as eyes and ears of the police against criminal activities. The same year, 1,000 volunteers without any criminal antecedents were selected as ‘Police Mitra’. Sahadev was one and strongly opposed drug trade in his locality - Kedarpalli slum. His family suspects the murder could be handiwork of the drug network. So far, Bhubaneswar police has maintained a mum on the drug angle in Sahadev’s murder but the family has voiced it loud and clear.
The ghastly murder which sent shockwaves across the capital is not the first such killing over brown sugar trade in the city. In September 2022, a 37-year-old man from Narayani slum within Capital police limits was bludgeoned to death by a couple in full public view.
Meanwhile, Commissionerate police said they will intensify drive against the sale of drugs. “Operations to curb the sale and consumption of brown sugar will be bolstered in the coming days,” said additional CP Umashankar Dash.