THRISSUR: Sheela Sunny, the owner of a beauty parlour in Chalakkudy, has given a statement that she suspects her close relative, a young woman who is a student in Bengaluru, behind her imprisonment in a narcotics case.

She also said that Excise sent her to the jail by filing a false report that she had sold drugs.

Ernakulam Excise Crime Branch has started searching for the said relative. Sheela's relative used to come to her house in Pariyaram. She also came here before Sheela's arrest and stayed in the same room. There was no hostility between the two.

"I was the only one in the beauty parlour when the excise team came. They took the bag as soon as they came. They showed that the bag had been torn open by a blade or something. The stamp was in a small package they took from it. I was shocked to see it. Then the stamp was taken from a cover where the insurance papers are kept in the scooter. A total of 12 stamps (0.160 grams) were recovered", Sheela said.

"I have not touched the thing. There is no way the item was put in the bag at the parlour. It is because I don't go out from there."

"The Excise Crime Branch started the investigation after filing a complaint with the Chief Minister.", she said.

Sheela was in jail for 72 days and was released on May 10 after the lab report came out saying that LSD was not a stamp. She will be filing a defamation case.

A call via WhatsApp

The person who informed the Iringalakuda Excise CI that Sheela had the stamp made the call via WhatsApp. He introduced himself as Satheesh. He said that there would be a stamp in Sheela's bag or vehicle and she could be caught before 4:30 in the evening. A week before this, he also enquired whether he would be arrested if he gave information about drugs.

Arrest without investigation

Excise does not have the kit to test the seized drugs. And only the lab report will be accepted by the court.

The arrest was made without ascertaining information such as whether Sheela uses drugs, whether she has a criminal background, the source of the drugs, and whether she sells it.