Bengaluru: A couple from the bustling central business district area of Sadashivnagar found themselves in trouble after an unexpected twist to their green thumb hobby: They took to social media to share a clip of their potted plants, unknowingly catching the attention of netizens who identified a pot in which ganja saplings were growing!
Alerted by the online chatter about ganja being grown in the home garden, police swung into action and arrested the couple — 37-year-old Sagar Gurung and his wife Urmila Kumari. Hailing from Namchi in Sikkim, they moved to the city two years back, residing at MSR Nagar in Sadashivanagar. While Sagar is into an eatery business, his wife is a homemaker.
Urmila, whose pastime is to watch videos and view photos online, recently chose to become active on social media. Apart from posting her own photos and putting out her thoughts, she started making videos. One such video she posted on Oct 18 was an introduction to the nearly two dozen plants being grown at her residence. However, in this leafy lineup were two ganja saplings, which netizens flagged.
The police FIR read: “After getting the basic information, we raided the couple’s home on Nov 5 afternoon. Initially, they did not respond to our questions on the ganja saplings. We inspected and found signs of plants uprooted from two pots. On further questioning, the couple confessed to growing ganja in them and showed us the dustbin where they had thrown them. The saplings weighed 54 grams, and we seized them.”
Police suspect that the couple spotted cops at their doorstep and hastily removed the saplings and tossed them into the dustbin in a bid to destroy evidence. They believe the couple grew ganja for commercial gains.
Alongside the saplings, police seized Kumari’s phone, which she had used to upload the now-infamous video. They now face charges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act for allegedly intending to cultivate ganja for sale.
