Bhubaneswar court on Thursday sentenced a 38-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment after convicting him in a narcotic drug trafficking case.

The Second Additional District Judge-cum-Special Judge, Bhubaneswar, found Bibhuti Bhusan Jena guilty of transporting brown sugar and also imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh on him.

Jena was arrested on June 1, 2020, while carrying brown sugar on a motorcycle near the Kalinga Vihar crossing in Bhubaneswar. The police had seized the contraband from his possession and charged him under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

The verdict underscores the strict stance of the judiciary against drug trafficking in Odisha. Authorities have been intensifying their crackdown on illegal narcotics trade in the state, with several similar convictions in recent months.