BHUBANESWAR: The Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch seized 1.107 kg of brown sugar worth over Rs 1 crore from a government quarter in the state capital. One Chittaranjan Sahoo of Kalanga in the Dhenkanal district has been arrested for reportedly procuring brown sugar and keeping it in the house. The contraband was seized during by a raid by the STF and Commissionerate police on the house at Unit-VIII.
According to STF sources, Sahoo said he was staying in the quarter on rent for the last one year. He runs a two-wheeler garage in Unit-VIII apparently as a front business. The contraband was likely delivered to him in the capital city itself.
The agency said it is yet to ascertain whether the quarter was allotted to a government official or was lying vacant and illegally occupied by Sahoo. “In the past, there have been instances when some vacant government quarters were illegally occupied,” said an STF officer.
A request will be made to the General Administration department to ascertain whether the quarter has been allotted to a government official, he said. On the other hand, a government official staying in the area said he was unaware of the identity of the person to whom the quarter was allotted. He thought it was occupied by an ex-serviceman who is currently deployed as a policeman in the state secretariat.
The STF has registered a case in this connection under sections 21 (c) and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The agency has launched a special drive against the sale of narcotic drugs in the state since 2020. It has seized more than 69 kg of brown sugar/heroin, 202 gm cocaine, over 113 quintals of ganja/marijuana and 750 gm of opium over the last three years. More than 168 drug dealers/peddlers from various parts of the state have been arrested during the period.
This is not the first time that illegal activities have been reported from government quarters in the state capital. On May 11, one such residential accommodation caught fire following a firecracker explosion. Police investigation suggested illegal firecrackers were kept in the quarter of Chittaranjan Lenka, who is reportedly a secretariat employee.
The police are probing whether Lenka was manufacturing firecrackers illegally in the house. A case was registered and Lenka is absconding, said an officer of Capital Police station.