Five held as hydroponic ganja farm busted in Pimpri-Chinchwad
Pune police arrested five men and dismantled a soil-based hydroponic OG Kush ganja unit in a rented Pimpri-Chinchwad flat, seizing 1.194 kg of ganja at the first Khadki arrest. The cannabis finds were part of wider Operation Alakh Niranjan raids across Pune, Mumbai and Goa with international dark-web and cryptocurrency links.
Pune police arrested five persons from different cities over the past month in a
drug-peddling case.[1]The five were identified as Swaraj Anant Bhosale,
Tushar Chetan Verma, Sumit Santosh Dedwal, Akshay Sukhlal Meher and Malay Rajesh
Deliwala, aged 21 to 28.[2]Verma was arrested first in Khadki during routine
patrolling.[3]A case against him was registered under the Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Act.[3]All the accused were held in police custody
under the NDPS Act.[2]
Police seized1.194 kg of ganja and an electronic weighing scale from Verma.[3]The accused had rented a flat in a densely populated area of
Pimpri-Chinchwad where they had set up a soil-based hydroponic ganja cultivation
unit.[2]Police dismantled the illegal setup and seized live plants, ganja
stock and cultivation equipment from the premises.[3]Police said nine
different types of narcotics seized included ganja and hydroponic OG Kush,
charas, cannabis gummies and CBD oil alongside MD, mushrooms, LSD papers and
pills.[2]Police put narcotics and related material seized in the case at
approximately Rs 3.45 crore.[2]Police also froze Rs 7.80 lakh in bank
accounts, crypto wallets and foreign currency linked to the accused.[2]
The investigation uncovered links to an international drug-peddling network in
Thailand and Bhutan using the dark web and hawala payments in cryptocurrency.[1]Dark web and cryptocurrency were used to bring OG-Kush ganja and other
substances into India, with drugs imported from Thailand and Bhutan to Assam and
then to Pune hidden in courier services.[1]The operation, code-named
Operation Alakh Niranjan, was carried out under the supervision of senior Pune
police officers.[3]Further investigation was under way and police said more
arrests were likely.[3]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The Rs 3.45 crore figure covers all narcotics and related material together, not a cannabis-only value, so no value is recorded.
No count of live plants, saplings or harvested stock was published, so no plants_destroyed figure can be recorded though plants were seized and destroyed.
The Rs 7.80 lakh in frozen bank accounts, crypto wallets and foreign currency is not a drug value and is excluded from figures.
17 December 2025 is the press-conference and publication date and is used as the incident date, as the reports describe arrests and raids over the prior month without giving each date.
The reports mention five other persons under investigation including three foreign nationals, who are not counted as arrested.
Name spellings vary between outlets, including Verma or Varma, Dedwal or Deadwal, and Maher or Meher.
Kangra district police's CIA team arrested two men from Chamba district with 1.107 kg of charas in the Sokru Dam area of Baijnath. A case was registered under the NDPS Act at Baijnath police station, and police said they were questioning the men about the source of the charas and where it was to be supplied.
Police in Sirari bazaar in Bihar's Sheikhpura district seized 150 grams of ganja from a paan stall and arrested Doman Singh, also known as Prabhakar Singh. The stall stands on Purana Station Road within 500 metres of an educational institution, and the station chief said an FIR was registered under the NDPS Act.
Bandipora police arrested two men travelling on a scooty at Gunchipora near Bakshi Bund on 11 November 2026 and recovered 914 grams of a suspected cannabis powder-like substance from them. Police registered FIR No. 244/2026 at Police Station Sumbal under the NDPS Act and said they were investigating the source of the contraband and its supply links.
Police in Station Ghanpur, Jangaon district, Telangana, arrested four men accused of selling dried ganja, including the man who bought some, and seized 40 grams of the drug, a mobile phone and 1,000 rupees in cash. Circle Inspector S. Srinivas said a case was registered against the four and they were remanded to judicial custody.
