Posing as ‘Maharaj,’ man grows cannabis on forest land

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

A shocking incident has come to light where a man, pretending to be a spiritual leader (Maharaj-Priest), cultivated cannabis on forest land and sold it across the district. The suspect has been identified as Parmeshwaranand alias “Gotya Maharaj” Dahihande. According to Police Inspector (Satara Police Station) Krishna Shinde, the racket was exposed after the arrest of Lahu Kaduba More (25, Sindon), who had come to Satara to sell cannabis on Dahihande’s instructions.

On Friday evening, Satara police received information that a youth would arrive in Satara village on a two-wheeler to sell cannabis. Acting on the tip-off, a police team set a trap on the Holkar Chowk–Satara village road. As soon as the suspect matching the description arrived, he was detained. Police recovered 385 grams of cannabis from him. During interrogation at the police station, he confessed that the supply came from Parmeshwaranand, who stays in the hilly area near Gevrai Budruk.

30 kg cannabis recovered from cowshed

The police team then rushed to the Gevrai hill area, where they found a cowshed with 70 to 80 cattle. Inside, they discovered three sacks containing a total of 30 kg of cannabis. The accused admitted the stock belonged to Parmeshwaranand. While the police team proceeded towards a nearby water pond in search of more cannabis, More attempted to escape through the forest but was caught after a brief chase.

Cannabis cultivation inside forest land

However, Parmeshwaranand himself was not found at the spot, as he fled before the police arrived. He is known to rear cattle there and also produces organic manure for sale. In addition, he has been cultivating cannabis in the forest land and the surrounding areas where he resides. The police also found freshly harvested (wet) cannabis on the site.

The raid was carried out by API Shailesh Deshmukh, PSI Govind Ekilwale, Nirmala Rakh, Dilip Bachate, Nandkumar Bhandare, constables Sunil Belkar, Deepak Shinde, Jagdish Khandalkar, Digambar Rathod, Mahesh Gole, Hamid Pathan, Purushottam Dayma, Dinesh Bhurewal, Sandeep Chinchole, Sunil Pawar, Gangadhan Dhanwate, and Avinash Kawale.