Overview
- Durg police arrested Vinayak Tamrakar with two aides, identified as Vikas Bishnoi and Manish Thakur, under the NDPS Act.
- The alleged plantation lay between Samoda, Jhenjhari and Sirsa, interspersed with maize, spanning about 5.62 acres within a seven-acre plot, with a provisional valuation near Rs 8 crore.
- The BJP suspended Tamrakar and removed him from an organisational post following viral images, according to state leaders.
- Investigators said labourers were brought from outside the region; the three accused were produced in court and sent to judicial custody, with police seeking custody for further probe.
- Tamrakar denies involvement and cites a sharecropping arrangement, while Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel visited the site and alleged wider political links and a larger footprint.