Man posing as journalist held for drug peddling

A fake journalist is among two suspected drug peddlers arrested by the police in Southeast Bengaluru’s Koramangala. Rs 3 lakh worth of hashish (charas) is reported to have been seized from them.

Rakesh (26) and Amul Hasan (23), both from Mangaluru, were arrested during a police raid at 20th Main, 7th Block, near the BBMP park, in Koramangala.

Police said the duo was trying to peddle drugs to employees of a private company. One kilogram of hashish, Rs 3,200 in cash and three mobile phones were seized from them. Police also found the identity card of a media house called ‘All India News 24x7’ from Hasan who claimed to be a reporter with it.

As per the ID, the news agency does intelligence, investigation, sting and right to information (RTI) operations, and sought information and other assistance from law-enforcement agencies. Police have established that the news agency does not exist and are investigating who made the identity card.

Although Hasan studied journalism, he doesn’t work for any media organisation. Interestingly, police also discovered that he had created a WhatsApp group whose members include local television journalists. They have booked him for impersonation, too.

Hasan had arrived in Bengaluru about three years ago in search of work and did odd jobs. Over the past two years, he got the press card and had his friend, Rakesh, join him in the city. Rakesh had studied till class 10 and was working as a construction labourer in Mangaluru.

In Bengaluru, the friends started peddling drugs. They would source the contraband from a man named Devdas in Bidar and sell it to private company employees.