Berhampur: A court in Odisha’s Ganjam district has sentenced three ganja peddlers to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in an NDPS case registered by the excise department around one-and-a-half-years ago.
Additional District Judge-cum-special judge RK Das pronounced the judgment on Thursday and also imposed a fine of Rs1 lakh on the three convicts, identified as Dasarathi Gomango, Iras Sabar and Jaydeb Jena, all hailing from Gajapati district.
They will undergo an additional six months of imprisonment if they fail to pay the fine amount, additional public prosecutor Bikram Kumar Kunda said.
The court gave the verdict after recording the statements of witnesses and verifying documents, he said.
The trio was arrested by the excise department of Berhampur and around 100 kg of ganja was seized from their car on Balipada-Dengapadar Road October 30, 2022.
A case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered and the trio was in judicial custody, sources said.
PTI