Ayuvedic medicine laced with drugs: 4 booked under NDPS

Rajkot: Four traders were detained under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act from Atika and Shree Hari industrial areas in Rajkot on Thursday night after they were found in possession of 891 packets containing marijuana mixed with ayurvedic medicine.
The police said the accused, Dhirajlal Desai (54), Sanjay Mehta (33), Yogesh Padaria (29) and Rajesh Bheda (52), were booked for selling ayurvedic medicine ‘Tarang Vijayavati’ laced with marijuana.
The traders were arrested on Thursday late night after the special operations group (SOG) of Rajkot police received the report of 5,080 packets of the medicine that they had seized on March 5 from Jai Ramnath Sales Agency in Himalay Complex on Gondal Road in Rajkot.
The seizure of these packets was effected on March 5, after a local newspaper carried out a sting operation, alleging that the packets had contained marijuana.
“We had sent the contents of the packets to Gandhinagar FSL. After it was confirmed that ‘Tarang Vijayavati’ contained marijuana, we started tracing the traders who kept these packets at their stores. While Desai and Mehta were caught from Baba Pan shop at Atika Ahir Chowk, Padaria was nabbed from Harideva General Store in Shree Hari industry area,” said R Y Rawal, inspector with Rajkot special operation group (SOG).
The case against the traders was registered at Malaviyanagar police station.
“We also booked the owner Jai Ramnath Sales Agency Rajesh Bheda under the NDPS Act on Thursday night” added Rawal.
Meanwhile, the Rajkot SOG have contacted their counterparts in Indore police in Madhya Pradesh, informing them about the development and urging them to raid the factory that manufactures ‘Tarang Vijayavati’.