Bhubaneswar: The shop of a couple, used for peddling drugs in Odisha capital, was demolished by police on Saturday.
The couple, identified as Dilip Barala and his wife Purnima Barala, were allegedly selling brown sugar from their shop at Adivasi Gaon in Salia Sahi under Nayapalli police limits in Bhubaneswar. Following information about illegal narcotic trade of the couple, police conducted a raid on the shop and arrested them on Friday.
As the shop of concrete structure with asbestos roof was illegally built on government land, the Commissionerate Police with the help of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) demolished it with earthmover. Before demolition, the couple’s materials were removed from the shop.
Speaking to the media, Sanjib Satpathy, Assistant Commissioner of Police, said, “A complaint was filed that the man and his wife were carrying out brown sugar trade from their shop in Salia Sahi. Since the shop was built by encroaching government land in the middle of the road, it was demolished.”
He further said the police would take action against anybody found involved in the illegal drug business from government land in future.
Earlier in the day, police arrested four peddlers and seized 978 gm of brown sugar worth nearly Rs 1 crore from their possession at Uttara Chhak, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.
Also Read: Brown Sugar Worth Rs 1 Cr Seized From Bhubaneswar Outskirts, 5 Arrested – odishabytes
