MP: BJP Ratlam district functionary held in drug trafficking case; removed from party post

Gwalior/Ratlam, February 5

The Madhya Pradesh Police have arrested a Bharatiya Janata Party functionary from Ratlam district in connection with the seizure of 1,900 kg of poppy husk in Gwalior last year, an official said on Sunday.

Following the arrest of Vivek Porwal on Friday, the Ratlam BJP unit in a statement on Saturday said it removed him as the convenor of the district party cultural cell over his involvement in a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in Gwalior.

The police had seized 1,900 kg of ‘doda chura’ (poppy husk) from a truck in Ghatigaon area of Gwalior in September last year and arrested two drivers of the vehicle under the NDPS Act, Gwalior Sub Divisional Officer of Police Santosh Kumar Patel said.

Their interrogation revealed the contraband was being brought from Dimapur (in Nagaland), he said.

The official said the drivers also told the police that they were given air tickets for Dimapur by Porwal, a resident of Jaora in Ratlam district, and taking the truck to Ratlam but it was seized by the police mid-way.

Following an investigation, police arrested Porwal from Jaora on Friday, he said.

The police were interrogating Porwal to know about the network involved in the supply of the narcotic substance, the official said.

Meanwhile, Ratlam BJP district president Rajendra Singh Lunera on Saturday removed Porwal from the post of convenor of the district party unit’s cultural cell.

The action was taken over Porwal’s involvement in a case of the NDPS Act in Gwalior, Lunera said in a statement.