Stepping up the drive against ganja peddlers, police in southern districts have frozen as many as 813 savings bank accounts of the accused involved in ganja cases, and their relatives.
This comes close on the heels of police personnel in Madurai, Dindigul and Theni districts having seized movable and immovable assets and also freezing of accounts of ganja case accused and their relatives in the last one month.
"In the earlier cases, we seized vehicles, houses and other properties and frozen bank accounts of accused involved in smuggling or possession of commercial quantity - 20 kg or more - of ganja. In those cases, the properties of close relatives and associates were seized under the provisions of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotrophic Substances Act," said Inspector General of Police Asra Garg.
Continuing with the big smugglers and main suppliers of ganja, the police in southern districts have now started simultaneously targeting the retail sellers. "We targeted the accused who were caught in ganja cases in the last one year, and seizure done under Section 102 of Code of Criminal Code," Mr. Garg said.
Stating that a total of 494 cases were identified in the 10 southern districts, Mr. Garg said that 813 bank accounts of the accused and their close relatives were frozen. "Under CrPC provisions, we have only frozen the accounts of the accused and his/her immediate family members/dependants, unlike under NDPS Act where all types of relatives suspected to have been benefited by the proceeds of ganja sale were targetted," Mr. Garg said.
Stating that in some of the cases the accused had used the banking transaction for payment for ganja, Mr. Garg said that freezing of accounts would cripple further transactions.
Similarly, this action would cause inconvenience to the accused as they could not use any e-commerce site or make payments using digital wallet platforms for their daily use.
"Since freezing of accounts would reflect in their CIBIL score, they would not get any services of banks like getting loans," Mr. Garg said.
He added that the police would not spare any provisions under the law, besides arresting the accused and seizing narcotics substances, to tighten the noose around the ganja peddlers.
