Bhubaneswar: A court in the Odisha capital today sentenced four persons to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) after convicting them in a case of illegal brown sugar trade.

Bhubaneswar Additional Sessions Judge (III) Himansu Sekhar Mallik also imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh each on convicts Sk Sameer, Sayed Imtiyaj, Sk Irfan and Rati Ranjan Routray.

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The four persons had assembled in a rented room at Raja Bazar in Jatni area of Khurda district on March 9, 2022 for the purpose of selling huge quantity of brown sugar in the locality.

Cops had seized 1.3 kg brown sugar from the 4 persons

On a tip-off, a team of the Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Crime Branch raided the room and seized 1.3 kg brown sugar worth over Rs 3 crore from the possession of the four persons.

The cops had arrested them under various Sections of the NDPS Act-1985. After completion of the probe, Investigating Officer (IO) STF DSP Dillip Kumar Sahoo had submitted a chargesheet against the four in the court of Bhubaneswar Additional Sessions Judge (III).

The accused were convicted under Sections 21(C) and 29 of the NDPS Act-1985

The court convicted the four accused persons under Sections 21(C) and 29 of the NDPS Act-1985 after examining 10 witnesses and other pieces of evidence gathered by the police during investigation. It sentenced the convicts to twenty years of RI, said public prosecutor Rashmi Ranjan Brahma.

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The court also imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh each on the convicts. Non-payment of the penalty amount would invite additional RI for two years, he added.