CHENNAI: Three persons arrested by the city police for ganja possession were found guilty and sentenced to five years imprisonment by a special court constituted under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic. Substances Act, 1985, recently. The court also slapped a total fine of Rs 2 lakh on the accused.

S Senthil Kumar (54), M Joseph (61), and K Alavudeen (57) were arrested by the Flower Bazaar Police on December 17, 2021 near Walltax Road after police received a tip-off about the movement of ganja and apprehended the trio. Alavudeen was with his two-wheeler and was in possession of 1.5 kg of ganja while the other two had 1 kg ganja each on them.

When the case came up for trial, the defence counsels argued that all the witnesses in the case were police officials and no independent witnesses had deposed against them.

The court however pointed out that this is not fatal to the prosecution case and that they have submitted enough documentary evidence and that other infirmities pointed out by the defence are minor ones.

"The accused were caught red-handed at the spot and the contraband seized from them was proved as ganja by the prosecution, through witnesses as well as documents," Principal Special Judge, C Thirumagal noted, and said that the documentary proof submitted by the prosecution was coherent and reliable.