Tuesday, Apr 30, 2024 | Last Update : 01:03 AM IST
Star Punjab cop held with huge drug haul
Inderjit Singh, known for his links with senior cops, was famous in the Punjab Police for catching large hauls of drugs.
Chandigarh: With the arrest of Punjab Police inspector Inderjit Singh on the charges of drug trafficking, the nexus between police and drug traffickers has surfaced once again. The Punjab Special Task Force arrested the accused on the charges of drug trafficking and seized a huge cache of drugs, arms and ammunition from his residence.
During the raids at his Jalandhar Police Lines house and his Phagwara house, drugs as well as weapons worth over several crore were seized, said STF additional director general of police, H.S. Sidhu.
“The police seized 7kg of narcotics, including 4kg of heroin, an Italy-made .9 mm pistol, live cartridges of various calibers and Rs 16.50 lakh cash.”
Inspector Inderjit, close to many high-police officers, was famous for catching large quantities of drugs.
Sources said he was under the scanner ever since he was posted as the CIA in-charge in Tarn Taran. The STF analysed total 13 cases of recovery by him in the district and found that despite huge recovery — as high as 19kg heroin in one case — all accused were freed. At that time, local Akali leaders came to his rescue.
STF head Harpreet Sidhu said the accused used to tamper with witness records before presenting the case before the court.
“Courts raised questions over the probe in controversial cases, but they went unnoticed. We are analysing his other cases too,” said Mr Sidhu. Sources added that five graft cases were registered against the accused since 1998. “In one case, the accused stopped the attachment of a drug peddler’s property. His style of helping peddlers was blunt,” an STF member said. “Even we were not expecting such a big recovery of heroin and smack,” said the ADGP.
His modus operandi was simple. He would nab smugglers with drugs and seek favours from them for their acquittal.
Gangster Prince, arrested by the STF two months ago, is said to have given information against the accused. Sources said a case filed by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau under Sections 7, 8 and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, is also pending against him.
Punjab is facing a huge drug trafficking problem for many years.
The state, being a border state, has become a major transit point for drugs from Afganistan and Pakistan. In most cases, drug traffickers have the patronage of local cops and politicians.
