Kochi, April 28 (IANS) A day after two film directors were booked following seizure of ganja from their flat, the State Excise officials on Monday arrested rap singer Vedan, famously known as Rapper Vedan.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of Excise officials reached the flat of Vedan, whose real name is Hirandas Murali, on Monday.
The flat was taken on rent by Vedan and his associates, and when the Excise officials barged in, there were eight others also.
A search revealed that 6 grams of ganja were recovered from the flat. “He (Vedan) has admitted to using ganja,” said the Excise officials.
During the raid, the officials also searched the two vehicles that the music troupe of Veda uses.
When the quantity of 6 grams was revealed, the fans of the popular Vedan heaved a sigh of relief that he would get bail from the police station if he were charged with possessing the 6 grams.
With the probe team engaged in a massive search of the entire flat, they recovered about Rs 9.50 lakh of currency, and Vedan informed them that this was the advance money he collected from people who came to book his programme.
When things appeared to cool down, a team of forest officials came as the Excise officials during the raid identified that a big tooth found in his necklace was a locket.
“We have identified that this is a tooth of a tiger, and when the Excise officials finish their probe, we will take over the case as the tooth on our preliminary examination is found to be that of a tiger. We will register a case and go forward with it,” said the forest officials.
Meanwhile, Vedan is believed to have informed the probe officials that the tooth in his locket was sourced from Thailand.
Vedan shot to fame through his rap shows, which are held under the banner of his troupe named ‘Voice of the Voiceless’.
It was in 2020 that the 25-year-old Hirandas Murali began his rap career, and he took the name Vedan. In the same year, three of his works in films, Nayattu, Karam and Manjummel Boys, in which he was the lyricist, became popular, and the singer turned out to be a huge hit. Since then, he has had no reason to look back with a huge fan following.
But as soon as the news of ganja being recovered from his house became public, the Kerala government cancelled his show that was booked to be staged in Idukki as part of the fourth anniversary of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government.
–IANS
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