A joint team of the Bihar Police Special Task Force (STF) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence’s (DRI) Patna and Muzaffarpur units arrested Rajesh Sahni on Thursday in the Dumaria Ghat police station area of East Champaran district.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] He is from Bairiya village in the Kesaraiya police station area of the same district[12][9][13][10]; two accounts name him Rajesh Kumar Sahni.[9][13]

The STF’s NDPS cell and the DRI were tipped off as the load left Nepal and followed the courier[13][11], and stopped the bus he was travelling on at Dumaria Ghat.[4][7][9] He was carrying about 10 kg of charas, a cannabis resin, in a backpack, which officers valued at about Rs 10 crore.[14][12][15][3][4][9][10] They also took a mobile phone and Rs 2,320 in cash.[12][3] Investigators said public buses were used to avoid the attention of security agencies.[4]

The route

The STF said Sahni was allegedly part of an international trafficking gang[1][2] that brought charas from Nepal and supplied it through Bihar to traffickers in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra.[1][3][4][5][6] This load was to go to Patan district in Gujarat[14][3][4][6], through Basti in Uttar Pradesh.[7][9][13] An STF statement said the syndicate planned to move it on several trains and deliberately delay it to avoid detection, with the onward journey set for 5 November[7]; one account names Basti and Surat as destinations.[11] Questioned, he said he worked as a courier and had received the load from a kingpin in Nepal, for a substantial payment.[11]

Investigation

He was taken to the DRI’s zonal office at Imlichatti in Muzaffarpur and questioned for several hours about his methods and his Nepali suppliers, and on Friday a court sent him to judicial custody.[4] Legal proceedings have begun[1], and the STF said the investigation, including into his criminal history, was continuing[1][12][5][7][9]; officers were going through his call records to identify the kingpin and the intended buyers, and expected more arrests.[11]