Ganja seized from flat; Vedan and friends granted bail; Forest Dept registers case against rapper under non-bailable sections for wearing chain consisting tiger's tooth

KOCHI: Rapper Hirandas Murali, popularly known as Vedan, has been granted station bail following his arrest in a ganja possession case. The police had seized six grams of ganja from his flat, and considering the small quantity involved, Vedan was released on station bail. Eight members of his music band, who were also arrested in connection with the case, secured bail alongside him.

Although Vedan was granted bail by the court in the ganja case, he was later taken into custody by the Forest Department in connection with a case involving a tiger tooth used as a pendant in his chain. This is a non-bailable offence. He was taken to the Mechappra Station under the Kodanad Forest Range. The tiger tooth will be sent for examination on Tuesday.

During a raid conducted on Monday at around 11 AM at the Swas Flat in Kaniyampuzha, Thrippunithura, led by Hill Palace SHO L. Yesudas, eight individuals — Vedan from Mulankunnathukavu and members of his music band — were arrested. In addition to ganja, Rs 9,50,000 and mobile phones were also seized.

The other accused are Vinayak Mohan (30), Vaishnav G. Pillai (24), Vignesh G. Pillai (27), Jafar K. Ali (29), K.W. Vishnu (26), Kashyap Bhaskar (26), Vimal C. Joy (23) and V.S. Hemanth (22). All of them were released on bail. The police had also recovered a sword and a machete during the search conducted at Vedan’s residence.

The police seized six grams of cannabis during the search conducted at Vedan’s flat on Monday morning. Vedan and eight others were present at the flat when the police arrived at the spot after receiving a tip-off.