A 30-year-old, a graduate in Civil Engineering, has been arrested by the Edakkara police in Malappuram on Friday evening for cultivating 57 plants of ganja on the terrace of his house. The arrested man has been identified as Arunkumar, a native of Uppada, near Edakkara in the district.

The police received information that Arunkumar was cultivating around 57 plants of ganja by trying to hide them between other vegetable crops. Arunkumar was arrested under Section 20A(1) of The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, for cultivating ganja.

 Section 20A (1) prescribes punishment for contravention in relation to the cannabis plant and cannabis. “Whoever, in contravention of any provision of this Act or any rule or order made or condition of licence granted thereunder,— (a) cultivates any cannabis plant; or (b) produces, manufactures, possesses, sells, purchases, transports, imports inter-State, exports inter-State or uses cannabis, shall be punishable.” The Act says that those accused of cultivating a cannabis plant may face rigorous imprisonment upto ten years, and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to one lakh rupees.

The police stated that the ganja ‘garden’ that Arunkumar was growing on his terrace had 57 plants that were all around ten-centimetre high.

“The plants were planted around two weeks ago. Some vegetables were being grown on the terrace of the accused’s home and he tried to hide his ganja crop among them so that nobody notices the crop. The accused lived there with his parents and wife,” an official of the Edakkara police told TNM.

The accused man, Arunkumar, runs a shop for sketching building plans. He also runs a dairy farm in Edakkara.

Arunkumar arrested by the Edakkara police on Friday evening and was produced before the magistrate on the same day. He was then remanded to police custody.