Hyderabad techie becomes 'ganja developer' after losing job over addiction; 17 plants seized from rooftop

By Manvi Vyas
HYDERABAD: A software engineer, who allegedly lost his job due to substance addiction, was arrested on Tuesday for growing ganja plants at his house in East Gandhinagar in Nacharam.

Excise officials said the accused, Ch Shashidhar, 37, was habituated to ganja and alcohol. Acting on a tip-off, the Ranga Reddy Enforcement ‘A' team conducted a raid at the premises and seized 17 ganja plants. Officials said the plants grew up to three metres and some of them even began flowering. The yield from the plants would be about 10 kg, they said.

"He started spending most of what he earned to procure the contraband and was eventually terminated from his job. To cater to his personal needs after the loss of employment, he began growing ganja plants on the terrace of his house," an excise official said.

Ghatkesar excise sub-inspector Sangeetha Reddy said: "He would extract the seeds from ganja he used to buy and began growing the contraband on his terrace."

The accused was handed over to the Ghatkesar excise station officials for further action.

Two BTech students arrested

In a related development, the same excise team arrested two BTech students in Medipally for selling ganja. The accused, Bandi Arun Kumar and B Ashish, were found in possession of 480gm of the substance. The two accused were also handed over to Ghatkesar excise officials.


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