THRISSUR: Thrissur City Police arrested Ganja Rani and her helper who cultivated ganja on acres of land in Odisha and sold it in large quantities in multiple places including in Kerala. Namitha Pareecha (32), a native of Adaba in the Gajapati district of Odisha, and her right-hand man, Arun Naik, a native of Adaba, were arrested.

They were arrested after the investigation of the case in which 221 kg of ganja was seized from Chiyyaram. The police had stayed in Odisha for 10 days in disguise and were monitoring them. During the investigation, the police also found cannabis cultivation in Adaba village, which is surrounded by forest. They were earlier arrested by the Odisha Police, but their armed followers attacked the station and released them. Hence, the arrest was made under the watch of the entire force of two stations, with the help of Swati S Kumar, a Malayali IPS officer of the Odisha cadre. The accused were quickly transferred to Kerala.

On May 5, Nedupuzha Police and Thrissur City Anti-Narcotics Department arrested a group of four who were smuggling 221 kg of ganja in a car. From the four arrested accused, the police learned that 'Ganja Rani' and her gang are leading the smuggling of ganja to Kerala. On the 14th of last month, Namitha's husband and middleman, Sajan, a native of Nellimattam, Ernakulam, was arrested from Palakkad, when he was coming to Kerala to collect money from the sale of ganja. Sajan, who had been in Odisha for 20 years, rarely came to Kerala.

Cannabis cultivation is done with the help of big Maoist gangs. Although the Maoists have been reduced in number by strong resistance from the central forces, ganja is widespread in villages surrounded by forests. Arun Naik was the first to be arrested for delivering ganja on the national highway in Brahmapur. With his help, Namitha was found in Chudangpur village. The accused were remanded. The investigation was led by Nedupuzha Station Inspector TG Dileep on the instructions of District Police Chief Ankit Asokan.