By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: A college dropout and his friend rode on a bike for 600 km amid the lockdown from Hyderabad to Chhattisgarh.

They travelled up to Bhadrachalam and then crossed over to the neighbouring State. However, this wasn’t for any emergency.

It was because one of the youths, Yashwanth Kumar, wanted to procure ganja from the agency area on the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border.

He did procure two kg of ganja and started back for Hyderabad with his friend Ganesh. Rachakonda police who were conducting vehicle checks nabbed Yashwanth at the Pantangi toll plaza late on Saturday but Ganesh escaped. The duo were stopped since pillion riding is prohibited now.

Ganesh jumped and fled the spot. Police searched Yashwanth’s bike and found the ganja. Yashwanth hails from Jiyaguda in Hyderabad and has a criminal past.

He is addicted to ganja, but could not source the same due to the lockdown. Ganesh suggested that they could procure ganja from Chattisgarh easily.

Accordingly, the duo started on a bike on Wednesday and reached the Sileru river on the Bhadrachalam border on Thursday. From there, they crossed over to Chhattisgarh and procured ganja at Rs 3,000 per kg. They started back on Friday morning and reached Pantangi on Saturday evening. Yashwanth said the duo travelled through villages to avoid police and bypassed nearly 100 checkposts. Choutuppal Inspector P Venkateshwarlu said Yashwanth has 19 bike theft cases against him.

ALL FOR A HIGH

Yashwanth Kumar, who is addicted to ganja, could not source the intoxicant due to the lockdown. His friend Ganesh suggested that they could get it in Chhattisgarh.

The duo rode 600 km bypassing 100 police checkposts to reach the Agency area near Bhadrachalam.