Trust criminals to be creative in an era when internet has brought the entire world to your laptop's screen.
Mumbai police have arrested an engineering drop-out for illegal possession and sale of ganja. The accused, Nikhil Sharma, 26, was caught with 1kg of ganja and 54gm of mephedrone. While this may sound like one of the regular narcotics cases handled by Mumbai police, what left them stunned was Sharma's confession that the stuff was all home-grown. It was cultivated in the backyard of one of the houses in Mahul village in Mumbai.
A crime branch team led by Inspector Nitin Patil was on regular patrolling duty in Chembur, Deonar and RCF localities. On Saturday night, they spotted Sharma moving around suspiciously, carrying a sack. When they approached him, he tried to escape but the police caught him. Upon searching, they recovered the ganja and mephedrone from his sack. Sharma was arrested and a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act has been registered against him.
Inspector Ashok Khot told THE WEEK that during interrogation, Sharma confessed that the ganja was grown in the backyard of his friend's house in Mahul using hydroponic farming techniques. The police raided the premises and found equipment and machinery related to hydroponic farming. Sharma's friend, however, managed to escape.
According to police, Sharma, an engineering student who had dropped out of college, had sourced the farming equipment from China and seeds from Australia and Europe. These seeds were meant only for hydroponic farming methods. The police have seized three hydroponic tents, LED lights, soil pH tester, pots, timers, several nutrients and seeds—all worth Rs 6 lakh.
Hydroponic farming means soil-less gardening. In this method, healthy plants can be grown without the traditional soil medium. Mineral-rich water solution is used instead.
Sharma and his friends studied this technique, sourced equipment from China and developed a small-scale farm to produce high-quality ganja. It was branded as Hydro Ganja and was sold at Rs 2,000 per 10gm when any normal ganja is available at Rs 500 per 10gm, the police said.
Khot said that the police were on the lookout for Sharma's friend who was his partner in the venture. "He will be in our net very soon," Khot said.
Sharma, meanwhile, has been remanded to police custody till December 17.
