20 Grams of Ganja Found in Vacated Room; Investigation Underway
Thiruvananthapuram, April 1 — In a targeted raid conducted by the Excise Department at the Kerala University Men’s Hostel in Palayam, officials seized 20 grams of ganja from a closed room on Tuesday. The operation followed a tip-off alleging the presence of banned narcotics, including MDMA and ganja, within the hostel premises.According to an excise official, the contraband was discovered wrapped in a piece of paper inside a room that had been vacated earlier the same day by a student from Tamil Nadu. "No one was occupying the room during the raid. The substance is suspected to belong to the previous occupant," the official stated.
When questioned about why not all rooms were searched during the operation, the official clarified that only specific rooms deemed suspicious were checked. "If required, we would have searched all the rooms," the official added.
SFI Slams Media Over Alleged Misreporting
The local leadership of the Students' Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the ruling CPI(M), criticized sections of the media for what they described as "false reporting" implicating their members in the incident. They accused media outlets of attempting to malign the reputation of SFI activists in the wake of the raid.Raid Follows Recent Kalamassery Drug Bust
This incident comes just weeks after a similar crackdown at the Government Polytechnic College men’s hostel in Kalamassery, Kochi, where police seized two kilograms of ganja and arrested several students. That case had sparked political sparring between student organizations such as the Kerala Students' Union (KSU) and the SFI, both of which distanced themselves from those arrested.Authorities have not yet confirmed any direct links between the two incidents, but the recurring nature of drug seizures in educational institutions has heightened concern among officials and sparked calls for stricter monitoring.
