Railway Protection Force personnel stopped two men and a woman carrying heavy plastic sacks as they tried to hurry away from the Tejas Rajdhani Express at Malda Town railway station.[1][2][3][4] The team had been watching passengers on the basis of a tip-off after train number 20501 reached Malda Town station.[1][2] Officers searched the sacks and found 24 packets kept in plastic boxes, and a drug-detection kit confirmed the substance was ganja, the local name for cannabis.[1][5][2][3] The three were identified as Nitish Kumar, aged 26, Khusho Bind, aged 43, and Gunjan Devi, aged 43.[1][6] Searches attributed 5.745 kg of ganja to Nitish Kumar, 5.705 kg to Khusho Bind and 3.890 kg to Gunjan Devi.[1] The total weight of ganja recovered from the three was 15.340 kg.[1][6][5][3]
Officers put the estimated value of the cannabis at 767,000 rupees (7.67 lakh rupees).[1][6][3] The action took place on platform number 1 at Malda Town station.[1][6][2] The Railway Protection Force team also seized two mobile phones and two rail tickets, whose examination may reveal further facts about the case.[1][5] Woman constable Kanika Roy searched the woman accused.[1][5] After completing the required legal formalities, the Malda Town Government Railway Police arrested all three and took over further investigation and legal action.[1][6][4] The Tejas Rajdhani Express runs via Malda and Bhagalpur to Anand Vihar Terminal.[1][6]
The Anand Vihar Terminal-Tejas Rajdhani Express (20501) reached platform 1 at Malda Town on 3 November.[6] The three were arrested under the NDPS Act on 4 November.[6] Eastern Railway public relations officer Shivram Majhi said surveillance on rail routes had been intensified to stop drug trafficking.[6]
An Eastern Railway press release said the search ran from 5:25 pm to 7:55 pm in the presence of an executive magistrate and independent witnesses.[5][3] The three were formally arrested by the Malda Town Government Railway Police on the morning of 4 November under sections 20(b)(ii)(B) and 29 of the NDPS Act, 1985.[5]
Officers who investigated said they were examining where the three had picked up the ganja and where they had planned to deliver it.[2] Officers were also investigating whether anyone else was behind the trafficking ring.[2] The search was carried out in the presence of an executive magistrate and independent witnesses, and ran from 5.25 pm to 7.55 pm.[2] The woman accused was searched by a woman police officer.[2] A preliminary test also indicated the presence of the drug, railway police claimed.[2]
As soon as train number 20501 from Anand Vihar Terminal reached the station, the joint team of RPF/CIB/Malda and GRPS/Malda Town began monitoring passengers’ movements.[3]
