Mangaluru City Police have arrested a doctor in connection with a major drug peddling network operating across the city.
Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy identified the accused as Prajwal Peenyas, originally from Mangalapet in Bidar and currently residing in Kengeri, Bengaluru.
The City CEN Crime Police Station had registered a case under sections 8(c) and 20(b)(ii)(B) of the NDPS Act on July 2. Acting on leads from drug users, investigators gradually traced nine peddlers involved in supplying narcotics within Mangaluru. All nine were arrested and remanded to judicial custody.
Further inquiry revealed Prajwal as a central figure responsible for sourcing drugs from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh before distributing them locally. He was apprehended and produced before a court on Thursday, where he, too, was sent to judicial custody. Police seized a mobile phone used to coordinate deliveries and transactions.
Commissioner Reddy added that the accused was a medical student enrolled in a private college in Mangaluru and already faced three separate drug-related cases registered in different city police stations.
Authorities stated the investigation is ongoing to uncover additional links and suppliers connected to the network.