14 April, 2023 – Chandigarh : The three special investigative reports on the drug issue, which had been lying in a sealed cover with the Punjab and Haryana High Court for about five years and handed over to the state government on April 5, were made public today. The reports – two interim and a final filed by an SIT headed by DGP Siddharth Chattopadhyaya — were released by the Lawyers for Human Rights International (LFHRI) after obtaining official copies of the same from the court.
Contrary to the claims, the reports did not give clean chit to any police official. Instead, these called for further investigation into the role of several police officials who specifically sought the posting of Inspector Inderjit Singh, who was dismissed later, along with them.
Inderjit Singh was accused of running a racket where he falsely implicated youths in drug smuggling cases. He was charged with getting drugs smuggled from Pakistan and planting these on innocent to extort money and sell narcotics. He also allegedly helped smugglers by getting them released on bail and through failed samples in connivance with personnel of the Forensic Science Laboratory.
The final report underlined the “complicity” of AIG (then Moga SSP) Raj Jit Singh Hundal, accusing him of recommending promotion and posting of Inspector Inderjit despite criminal cases against the latter. It also questioned property dealings of the then SSP and his family members and called for further probe into this aspect as many properties were purchased from money “gifted by his relatives”.
Advocate Navkiran Singh, general secretary, LFHRI, said the onus of acting on these reports was on Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh. “We have been fighting for the eradication of the drug menace from Punjab through a public interest litigation in the High Court since 2013,” he said.
The court formed the special investigation team on December 15, 2017, with the mandate to investigate the allegations of complicity of Raj Jit Singh in association with Inderjit, emanating out of FIR No. 1 dated June 12, 2017. Inderjit was arrested by the Special Task Force on drugs headed by ADGP (now DGP) Harpreet Singh Sidhu.
The three-member SIT was headed by DGP Chattopadhyaya with ADGP (now DGP) Prabodh Kumar and IG (now AAP MLA) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh as its members.
Earlier on April 5, CM Mann had tweeted that he had got the probe reports and action would be taken soon.
Raj Jit Singh, who could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, earlier denied patronising the controversial cop during questioning by the SIT. He had also denied involvement in any wrong financial dealings.
SIT had indicted senior Punjab officials
- Acting on a PIL on drug menace in Punjab, HC formed SIT on December 15, 2017
- Told to probe charges against then Moga SSP for colluding with inspector Inderjit Singh
- The latter accused of smuggling drugs from Pak with help of sacked BSF personnel
- Framed several individuals by planting drugs for extorting money, selling narcotics
- Senior cops, who sought Inderjit’s posting under them, accused of collusion
- Then Moga SSP Raj Jit Singh recommended double promotion for Inderjit
Courtesy : The Tribune
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