Bhubaneswar: In a heartening news for pet lovers, the competent authority in Kolkata has denied permission to Khurda police to auction three dogs seized from a drugs dealer.
According to sources, police had seized the properties worth over Rs 2.3 crore of the drugs smuggler, Somnath Bhujabal alias Piku last month. Besides the movable and immovable properties, the seized items included three dogs – a White Spitz, a German Shepherd and a Prager Rattler.
The police sent the list of the seized properties to the competent authority in Kolkata with a request to confiscate Bhujabal’s assets under Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. After getting the approval, the police would have auctioned the properties which included a two-storey building worth Rs 1 crore, jewellery worth Rs 14 lakh, bank balance of Rs 80,000 and 11 vehicles.
“We had to include the three dogs in the list as Bhujabal bought the same from the money that he made from dealing in narcotics. When we checked his legal income, we found that he could not have bought and maintained those dogs from that. In the last 7 years, he earned ₹13 lakh while his actual assets increased to ₹2.34 crore,” Hindustan Times quoted SDPO of Balugaon as saying.
He further said under the NDPS Act, there is a provision of seizure and forfeiture of ill-gotten property of the accused involved in NDPS cases. “So we had to include the dogs whose cost was estimated to be Rs 50,000 as well,” he added.
But the competent authority granted permission to auction the properties excluding the dogs. The authority felt it would be difficult to ensure care and protection of the pet dogs in police custody and hence denied the permission, said the police officer.
While Bhujabal is in jail along with his father, who is a peon in the municipality, the police have left the dogs in custody of his family and warned them not to send the dogs anywhere. Bhujabal faces four cases under NDPS and eight under the Arms Act apart from a rape charge.
