Drugs sold openly at posh Mumbai colleges for just Rs 60!

mid-day tailed this peddler around Mithibai College who was seen rolling joints and selling them to students outside the institute. Pic/Rane Ashish

In January 2016, Mumbai police got a clap for a witty tweet it directed at the city's ganja or cannabis peddlers. 'If you roll, we will weed you out', they challenged. A year later, the conviction seems to have paled. Over the past week, mid-day hung out at various suburban colleges to find illicit drugs being openly sold.

Also read: Police bust outstation ganja worth Rs 9 lakh in Kashimira

When mid-day tipped off the cops, they brushed it aside as a one-off incident, refusing to acknowledge the network that's ensuring the city's young fly at all hours.

When your children head to the college every morning, few parents suspect that their kids are walking right into the hub of drug dealing. Be it charas or ganja, a sting operation by mid-day at three posh suburban colleges - SNDT, NMIMS and Mithibai - exposes how these are made easily available to all students, considering they are sold right outside the campus during college hours.

The dealer is caught on camera as he rolls a joint for a new client who just purchased ganja from him. Pic/Rane Ashish

Edging toward college
On April 5, this reporter went to SNDT, Juhu, and saw about five homeless women selling ganja from under a Banyan tree near the varsity main gate. One could tell this was a spot well-known to customers, in this case mostly autorickshaw drivers, considering clients kept walking up every 20 minutes to buy goods.

"For a year now, I have observed these homeless women selling drugs to the rickshaw driver and young students from the nearby colleges. Earlier, these women were little further away from the varsity, but now that everyone has turned a blind eye, they have been selling ganja openly next to the varsity," said a college professor's driver, on condition of anonymity. Incidentally, he was the one who pointed out their covert operation to this reporter.

The same day, mid-day also staked outside NMIMS University - the umbrella for Narsee Monjee College Of Commerce And Economics and Usha Pravin Gandhi College Of Management - and Mithibai, Vile Parle, where a similar flow of illegal drugs could be observed to if one looked closely.

Cold drinks or high trips?
Tailing a first-time client, this reporter saw him approach a worker at a cold-drink centre, adjacent to the NMIMS University and opposite Mithibai college, and ask him if there was any place to get cheap ganja and being handed a number for one 'Raj' in exchange.

Also read: Mumbai Crime: 150 kg ganja seized from luxury car in Kashimira

Contacting 'Raj', led to the client being asked to head towards the NMIMS University signal. Claiming to be a worker at a food stall, mid-day saw him pocket Rs 60 from the client, only to return 10 minutes later with a packet of ganja from the opposite side of the road.

On being asked if the quality was assured, 'Raj' was overheard boasting, "Many students from nearby colleges come to buy drugs from me. For newcomers, I can even roll the joint in the lane behind the university. In fact, students smoke up openly as nobody can figure out that it's not a cigarette, but a joint."

However, even as the colleges and varsity have attempted to take some minor action in the past against these dealers, the local police were found to be clueless about any such malpractice near the campuses.

Blind eye to issue
When mid-day contacted Giridhar Gajbe, Deputy Registrar of SNDT University, he said, "In December 2016, our security guard informed us about a group of women selling illicit drugs outside the university. We immediately informed the police, but no action has been taken after that." He added that after hearing of the recent episode, he again lodged a complaint with the Santacruz police, but the police claimed that they have not found any illegal drugs.

"On April 5, we received a complaint from the University, and we sent our police along with women constables, but nothing was found with those homeless women. So we just had to relocate them from the area. Earlier too, we haven't received any complaint from the university, nor have we found anything suspicious around the area" said Santanu Pawar, senior police inspector from Santacruz police station.

More shockingly, when mid-day spoke to Juhu police, they claimed they haven't suspected that such activities take place near the colleges. Said Sunil Ghosalkar, senior PI from Juhu police station, "One month ago, we caught two people in a drug related case. But they were from a different area of Vile Parle, and we haven't yet received any such complaint of drugs supply near the colleges in Vile Parle and NMIMS University."

Colleges doubt cop claim
However, the institutes don't accept this claim and instead say that for years, they have suspected the activities of the food stall workers. "Years ago, we had lodged a complaint against the illegal shops and food stall outside our college premises, which were then removed. But despite the Supreme Court order of no food stalls and pan beedi shops in a radius of 100 m of any educational institute, they still exist," said Ashok Bhasak, CEO of Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandal (SVKM) trust that runs NMIMS.

Dr Meena Chintamaneni, registrar of NMIMS University adds her voice to the chorus and says, "Food stalls near our premises attract large number of crowd where the food is served till late night. Concerned government departments and administration are required to keep a close watch on illegal and criminal activities in such cases."

Even the principal of Mithibai College, Dr Rajpal Hande said, "In January, we lodged a complaint against the stall situated near the back gate of the college as we found that under the guise of selling tea and vada pav, he was selling cigarettes to the students. But we had no clue about this illegal supply of drugs, otherwise we would have definitely taken action against them."

Yet when contacted, DCP Shivdeep Lande of the Anti-Narcotics Cell said, "I can't comment without seeing the facts."