Maharashtra: Brick kiln owner booked for employing child and bonded labourers in Palghar

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The Palghar Police in Maharashtra on Wednesday registered a case against a brick kiln owner for allegedly employing child and bonded labourers and ill-treating them in Palghar district, an official said, reported the PTI.

In their complaint to the Talasari police, the labourers said they had been working at the brick kiln of Ramu Vedga of Gadne village in Dahanu taluka since December 2023, as per the PTI.

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The victims include three men, five women and four children. The complainants alleged that Vedga, who is now at large, made them work even when they were unwell. He also allegedly dragged women by their hair to the kiln and forced them to work there.

An NGO working on tribal issues traced the victims and took them to the police after a video of Vedga abusing them came to light, the official said.

Meanwhile, last week, two persons, including a 60-year-old woman, were held after the Palghar Police recovered drugs worth nearly Rs 12 lakh from them in Maharashtra's Palghar district, an official had said, reported the PTI.

Acting on a tip-off, the police laid a trap near a school in Nalasopara, on the outskirts of Mumbai, and intercepted one Bajrang Suresh Kasbe (24) and the woman Purnima Raju Rathod on Tuesday, he said.

A search revealed that they were carrying 105 grams of MD and 3.4 grams of brown sugar, collectively worth Rs 11.84 lakh. They had procured the drugs from a certain Ankush Gava of Nalasopara, he said.

A case has been registered against Kasbe and Rathod under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

In an another incident, last week, a man was arrested in Thane district of Maharashtra allegedly with ganja, charas and hashish worth Rs 31.45 lakh. He allegedly took took drug supply orders through social media, a police official said on Friday, reported the PTI.

According to the PTI, Rushabh Sanjay Bhalerao (28) took drug supply orders on Instagram and couriered the contraband home, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shivajirao Patil said.

"A Crime Branch Unit V team led by Senior Inspector Vikas Ghodke nabbed him from Indira Nagar in Wage Estate area on a tip off on Wednesday. We seized 3.2 kilograms of ganja worth Rs 30,200 from him at the time," the DCP said, as per the PTI.

"A search of his house yielded 60.5 kilograms of ganja, 290 grams of charas and 19 small bottles with hashish oil cumulatively valued at Rs 31 lakh. It was the first time hash was seized by Thane police," the official added, the news agency reported.

Rushabh Bhalerao was remanded in police custody till February 12 and probe was underway to unravel the peddling network, the DCP said.

(with PTI inputs)