Deoghar Police Arrest Five in Brown Sugar Crackdown, Seize 21 Grams of Suspected Drugs

Police arrested five men in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district on Thursday evening after recovering 21.01 grams of a substance suspected to be brown sugar and ?5,400 in cash during a raid in the Mohanpur area.

Deoghar Superintendent of Police Praveen Pushkar shared details of the operation during a media briefing on Friday, stating that the police had acted on a tip-off about the alleged sale and consumption of brown sugar in Hindolawaran and Simarjor.

Following the information, police formed a special investigation team to verify the allegations and identify those involved. The team intercepted five men near a newly constructed hospital at Tinghara, along the Hindolawaran-Tapovan main road. The suspects were detained and searched, leading to the seizure of the suspected narcotic substance and cash.

The operation was conducted by a team led by CCR Deputy Superintendent of Police Laxman Prasad, along with Mohanpur police station officer-in-charge Sandeep Krishna, Assistant Sub-Inspector Suresh Kumar Ramani, reserve police personnel and a local village watchman.

The arrested men have been identified as Praful Kumar, 33, Bhim Rai, 20, Jitendra Kumar, 36, Lakhan Marandi, 25, and Rahul Kumar, 20. All five are residents of the Mohanpur area.

According to police, some of the accused have previous criminal records. Praful Kumar and Lakhan Marandi had earlier faced cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Bhim Rai was named in a case registered in 2023, while Jitendra Kumar and Rahul Kumar had previously been involved in cybercrime-related cases.

Police have registered a case under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the NDPS Act. Investigators are now working to establish the source of the suspected brown sugar and determine whether the accused were connected to a wider drug supply network operating in the area.

The investigation is ongoing, and the seized substance will be subject to further examination to confirm its identity.