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Pune youngster held for selling cannabis, over 200 kg of ‘Banta Goli’ seized

A team comprising personnel from the local crime branch and the Ranjangaon police station raided the accused’s house in Ranjangaon MIDC area on January 10.

Written by: Express News Service

2 min readPuneUpdated: Jan 17, 2026 06:58 PM IST

The police said the accused did not have any previous criminal record. (Source: File)

The Pune rural police have arrested a youngster for allegedly selling ‘Banta Goli (chewy cannabis balls)’.

The accused has been identified as Vipul Sandip Vitkar, 20, a resident of Ranjangaon village in Shirur taluka of Pune district.

In a press release on Saturday, the police said a team comprising personnel from the local crime branch and the Ranjangaon police station raided Vitkar’s house and a ‘Paan tapri’ (paan shop) near the government hospital in Ranjangaon MIDC area on January 10.

During the raid, about 203.6 kilograms of ‘Banta Goli’, estimated at Rs 57,300, were seized. Subsequently, a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against Vitkar at the Ranjangaon police station under Sections 223, 274, 275, and 123 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and various sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the Food Security Act.

“The accused was produced before a court on January 11. The court remanded him in police custody for two days. During the investigation, the accused said that he got the seized contraband from a company in Karnataka a few months ago,” said Police Sub-Inspector Avinash Thorat, the investigation officer.

Thorat said that ‘Banta Goli’ is made from ganja, which is a banned drug under the NDPS Act. “A probe so far has revealed that the accused was selling the Banta Goli for the last couple of years. Further investigation is on,” added Thorat.

The police said the accused did not have any previous criminal record.

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