Rats were blamed for destroying 10 kg of bhang and nine kg of ganja, confiscated and stored in a police station in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district.

The police informed the matter to a court in the district, an advocate associated with the case concerned said on Sunday.

The police submitted a report to Principal District and Sessions Judge Ram Sharma on Saturday after the court directed the officer in-charge of Rajganj police station to produce the bhang and ganja seized six years ago.

The officer in his report said that rats had completely destroyed the narcotics substances stored in the malkhana (store) of the police station.

A report has also been registered in this regard at the police station, the officer said.

On December 14, 2018, Rajganj police arrested one Shambhu Prasad Agrawal and his son with 10 kg of bhang and nine kg of ganja. An FIR had also been lodged against them in the police station.

During the trial, the court had ordered the Investigating Officer in the case, Jayprakash Prasad, to produce the confiscated bhang and ganja in court on April 6.

"Prasad appeared in the court on Saturday with an application of the Rajganj police station officer in-charge saying that rats destroyed all confiscated material," defence lawyer in the case, Abhay Bhatt, told PTI.

Bhatt said it appeared that his client was framed in false cases, as the police could not be able to exhibit the confiscated materials.

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