KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Aug 13: A man in the guise of Sadhu was caught for allegedly selling ‘Doda’ from a dhaba along the NH-33 under Chowka thana area in the adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district.
The police seized 14 kg from the house of the Sadhu identified as Kartik Modak and a truck bearing registration number PB65-3648 while arresting Modak and the truck driver Sukhdev Singh.
The police had got a tip-off and had put a checking point on the NH-33 in Chowka on Saturday night. The police stopped a truck and checked it to find a packet kept in the vehicle’s cabin.
As the packet contained Doda powder, the police interrogated the truck driver, leading the police to make the driver identified as Sukhdev Singh to divulge that the intoxicating stuff was sold by a Sadhu at a dhaba near Palna Mode.
The police took the driver along and finally reached the dhaba where the Sadhu was sitting there. On being interrogated, the Sadhu confessed to having sold 250 grams of Doda powder to the driver. He also divulged that he used to sell the stuff to truck drivers hailing from Panjab and Haryana.
On being interrogated further, the Sadhu revealed that a stock of Doda powder is at his house nearby. The police subsequently raided the house and recovered a sack containing 14 kg of Doda powder from there.
It may be mentioned here that Doda which is a byproduct of opium and is consumed by truck drivers as the stuff enables them to drive without having to drop their eyelids.
Moreover, the seizure of Doda powder in good quantity from Chowka reflects that poppy cultivation meant for opium processing is being carried on a large scale in the region.
