The lecturer who turned a peddler

On Thursday evening, the police here nabbed three drug peddlers and seized 460 gm of heroin from them.

On Thursday evening, the police here nabbed three drug peddlers and seized 460 gm of heroin from them. Nothing extraordinary about the case, except that the police say that the prime accused is a former college teacher. Forty-five-year-old Naos Lakra was on Saturday remanded to judicial custody.

Teaching was Lakra8217;s profession for 20 years 8212; first as a schoolteacher at Latehar district8217;s Mahuadanr block and then as a lecturer at Albert Ekka College in Gumla district. Lakra, an Adivasi, started working as a teacher soon after completing post-graduation in English from Ranchi University in 1987. His wife, Birjit Barwa, works as a clerk at Central Bank, Ramgarh. The couple has three sons.

A feud with the Ranchi University led to the closure of his college last year. Yet 8212; as his relatives wondered 8212; with no salary or regular income, Lakra was busy constructing a new house.

His stay in the dream house was, however, short lived. Booked under the Narcotics Drug and Psychotropic Substances Act NDPSA, it would be long before Lakra can stay with his family. The offence, once proved, can even lead to life imprisonment for Lakra and the two other accused 8212; Afroz Ansari, a plumber, and Hasan Ansari, owner of a cycle repair shop. The other two accused are from Ranchi.

Asked from where he got heroin, Lakra said: 8220;I had employed Afroz to lay water pipes in my house and he was the one who gave me the bag containing heroin.8221;

The police, however, have a different version. SSP M S Bhatia, who led the operation, said that on a tip-off, a police team, posing as buyers, contacted the trio and promised to buy heroin worth Rs eight lakh at Argora Chowk. At the appointed time, sub-inspectors Randhir Kumar, Ranjit Sinha and B D Choudhary waited for the peddler with cash in hand. Bhatia said that it was Lakra who came to meet them with a Made in Thailand bag. Immediately, he and his two accomplices were nabbed. Bhatia added that the heroin seized is worth Rs 50 lakh in the international market.

Bhatia added that another teacher, Md Niazuddin, was taken in custody on Friday evening in connection with the same case. Niazuddin is principal of Indira Gandhi Memorial School at Ichak in Hazaribagh district. A police officer, on condition of anonymity, claimed that Niazuddin had supplied heroin to Lakra through Afroz and Hasan and that they were all part of a gang involved in heroin peddling in the region for the past one year. However, Niazuddin claimed that he was innocent. Lakra, meanwhile, has confessed his involvement in the crime.