Cash and contraband drugs valued at more than Rs 3 crore were recovered during a raid at the residence of an alleged 45-year-old peddler in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh district, police said.
Five members of the family of the alleged peddler, Rajesh Mishra, including his wife Reena Mishra, son Vinayak Mishra and daughter Komal Mishra, and relatives Yash Mishra and Ajeet Kumar Mishra, were arrested, police said.
Rajesh Mishra is currently lodged in jail.
The police in their initial probe found that Rajesh Mishra was allegedly running a narcotics operation from jail, with the help of his family members.
During the search operation, Rs 2.01 crore in cash, 577 gm smack worth about Rs 1.15 crore and 6.075 kg ganja valued at nearly Rs 3 lakh were recovered during the day-long search, officials said.
The cash, mainly in bundles of smaller denominations, was hidden at different places in the house, they said.
While Rajesh Mishra faces 14 criminal cases against him, his wife has seven pending cases, including under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters’ Act.
Pratapgarh Superintendent of Police (SP) Deepak Bhuker said the raid was part of an ongoing campaign to clamp down on organised crime and narcotic trafficking in the region.
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The police had earlier attached the alleged peddler’s properties worth around Rs 3 crore under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters Act.
According to the police, the raid on Mishra’s residence in the Manikpur area on Sunday was carried out after it emerged that his wife and son allegedly attempted to secure his bail with forged documents.
Though he was denied bail, an investigation led the police to the family running criminal activities from their residence.
When the police team arrived there, Reena Mishra locked the house from inside in an attempt to hide the contraband in polythene bags, the investigators said. The team caught her and four others trying to hide the drugs and cash. Their interrogation revealed that they had been running the operations for a long time, with Rajesh issuing them directions from the jail, the officials claimed.
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The counting of the currency took several hours, the police said.
Yash and Ajeet Mishra live in the same neighbourhood, it is learnt.
