In a first, three accused in Odisha have been convicted for 20 years imprisonment under NDPS Act, 1985 for their involvement in illegal brown sugar trade.
The accused have been identified as Debasish Behera, Prabir Kumar Singh and Sk Kausar Alli of Balasore district. The Court of 2nd Additional District Judge-cum -Special Judge, Bhubaneswar convicted the three accused and sentenced to undergo Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) for 20 years and imposed a fine of 1 lakh on them.
The trio was arrested by STF in 2020 when they were transporting brown sugar in a vehicle after procuring the same from West Bengal. As per senior officials, the accused were intercepted at Rasulgarh crossing near Esplanade mall in Bhubaneswar.
During search, huge quantity of contraband Brown Sugar weighing 4 Kg 458 gram and other incriminating materials were recovered and seized from their possession. During trial, the prosecution examined 13 witnesses and exhibited 79 documents.