Alappuzha: Report says that there was a lapse in the actions of the excise officials in the ganja case involving U. Pratibha MLA’s son Kaniv. Assistant Excise Commissioner S Ashok Kumar submitted a report to the State Excise Commissioner on a complaint filed by Pratibha MLA against the excise officials.
The report points out that the case against 7 people, including Pratibha Hari’s son, is unlikely to stand. The case will stand against only two of the accused who were found to have ganja. There are no witnesses to Kaniv smoking ganja. The officials also did not see Kaniv smoking. They only say that the smell of ganja came from his breath. The report also states that this is not enough to file a case against 7 people. No matchbox or residue of smoking ganja was found. Blood, hair and nail samples should have been collected to check whether ganja was smoked. The report also states that no tests were conducted.
The report does not recommend any action against the officials. The report states that the Excise Commissioner should consider the report and take further action. As part of the investigation, statements were taken from Kuttanad Excise CI Jayaraj, Range Inspector Anilkumar and other officials in the team.
