Odisha police seize dogs, other assets of brown sugar smuggler

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Police have seized three pet dogs of different breeds among other movable and immovable assets of a notorious brown sugar smuggler in Khurda district.
After the seizure, the Khurda police sent the proposal to a competent authority under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in Kolkata to confiscate the assets, including the pets—a three-year-old White Spitz, four-year-old German Shepherd and three-year-old Rattler, owned by Paku alias Somanath Bhujabal (30), the drugs dealer.
“We have sent the list of properties worth about Rs 2.34 crore owned by Bhujabal and his family members to the Kolkata competent authority for confiscation. The seizure list included the three dogs, whose cost would be at least Rs 50,000. Other movable and immovable properties included a 2-storey house worth Rs one crore, bank balance of about Rs 80,000, jewellery of around Rs 14 lakh and 11 vehicles,” Khurda superintendent of police Raj Kishore Dora said.
While Bhujabal has been in jail at Puri, the police have left the dogs in the custody of his family at Khurda for proper care. Police said the family has been strictly asked not to sell the dogs.
They will compensate for the loss if the dogs are sold, or they die or even go missing. Police said Bhujabal was earning around Rs 3 lakh from the dog breeding business annually. Once the Kolkata’s competent authority grants permission for confiscation of the seized assets, the police will auction Bhujabal’s property, including the dogs and deposit the money in government exchequer.
The police took at least 3 or 4 months to trace Bhujabal’s properties following an instruction by inspector general (central range) Narasingha Bhol.
“The purpose of conducting the financial investigation is to choke the economy of the smuggler. He earned the tainted assets from the profits of brown sugar sale,” sub-divisional police officer (Balugaon) Manas Ranjan Barik said.
The competent authority, whose office is located in Kolkata, is a quasi-judicial authority under the NDPS Act to pass order for forfeiture of such illegally acquired property.
Under the chapter V-A of NDPS Act (Section A-Z) there is a provision of seizure and forfeiture of the ill-gotten property of the accused involved in NDPS cases. During financial investigation into such drug smuggling cases, the police normally seize movable and immovable assets which were illegally acquired by the accused from the profits of the drugs trade.