Wanted ‘ganja queen’ Neethu Bai arrested after year-long search

Kalapathi Neethu Bai, also known as ‘ganja queen’, arrested on Thursday (November 5) by the EAGLE Force.

A wanted drug kingpin, Kalapathi Neethu Bai, 48, who is linked to a network involved in the alleged trafficking of marijuana across Hyderabad and Cyberabad, was arrested by the Telangana Elite Action Group for Drug Law Enforcement (EAGLE) in Asif Nagar on Thursday. She had been absconding for more than a year.

Acting on a tip-off, EAGLE personnel traced her to a hideout. No narcotic substances were found in her possession, though ₹1 lakh in cash was seized. An officer from the EAGLE Force said that earlier, 63 consumers who had been purchasing marijuana through her network had been identified and sent for de-addiction.

Neethu Bai, known as ‘ganja queen’, and her family members operated an organised distribution network, procuring marijuana in bulk from suppliers and selling it in small sachets to consumers across Hyderabad and Cyberabad.

One of the major cases against her dates back to August 2023, when she was arrested in a commercial-quantity marijuana case. During the investigation, authorities identified ₹40.30 lakh in cash, 16 bank accounts holding deposits of ₹1.53 crore and immovable properties worth around ₹2 crore. These assets were attached under the provisions of the NDPS Act.

On March 13, 2024, the then Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau, now EAGLE, along with Gachibowli police, raided her residence at Lodha Basti in Nanakramguda. The team seized 22.6 kg of marijuana, ₹22.10 lakh in cash, two mobile phones and a UPI QR scanner. The total value of the seized property was estimated at ₹34.40 lakh.

Neethu Bai has 31 cases listed against her in police records, dating back to 2018. The cases include offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the Telangana Excise Act, registered across Hyderabad, Cyberabad and other parts of Telangana.

Her drug trade had also attracted the attention of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which conducted searches at three locations in Hyderabad in September as part of a money-laundering investigation. The agency was examining properties and financial transactions suspected to be linked to proceeds from narcotics trafficking.

EAGLE is expected to question Neethu Bai about the supply chain, the consumers linked to the network and the proceeds generated through the trafficking operations.