How Ludhiana cop siphoned off Rs 1.25 crore ‘drug money’ from police station; arrested

After it was revealed that the cash was missing, an FIR was registered against senior constable Gurdas Singh and he was arrested.

The senior officials in Ludhiana Rural Police got to know about the missing cash only after the police had to face a major embarrassment in the court during the hearing of the 2023 drug case.

According to the FIR (copy with The Indian Express), when the seals of the four parcels containing the case property were opened in the court on the orders of the judge, the cash was found missing.

The FIR states that on November 11, during the court hearing in the 2023 NDPS case in the court of additional session judge Parminder Kaur, the four “sealed and stamped” parcels were presented in the court. They contained Rs 1.25 crore in cash and other case property. “However, when the seals were broken on the orders of the judge, Rs 1.25 crore in cash was missing,” adds the FIR.

Inspector Hira Singh, SHO Sidhwan Bet police station, said that the cash was “drug money” recovered from the accused in the 2023 NDPS case. “As soon as we got to know about the missing cash, an FIR was registered and the constable was arrested,” said the SHO.

DIG (Ludhiana range) Satinder Singh, speaking to The Indian Express, said: “Every single penny will be recovered. We have all the traces. We have already recovered Rs 7-8 lakh from the accused cop. He has admitted that he took the amount and gave it to a relative, and also lost some of it in gambling. Further investigation is on.”

A senior police official who was present in the court when seals were broken, and was the investigation officer when the “drug money” was recovered in 2023, said: “It was an embarrassing moment. The judge ordered the seals to be opened and when the public prosecutor Balwinder Singh checked the boxes, they were empty and cash was missing. Fake seals were installed on the boxes after taking out the cash.”

The DIG said: “How the accused sealed those packets again is a matter of investigation but those were fake seals.”

Ludhiana Rural SSP Ankur Gupta said that the accused cop was deputed as the “custodian” of the malkhana being the head munshi, as the practice is in all police stations. “He only had the keys of the strongroom and it was his duty to present the case properties in the court on a daily basis. A three-member committee headed by SP (investigation) has been formed to probe the case. We are also checking malkhana to verify if anything else has been stolen too,” he said.

The FIR against Gurdas Singh has been registered under the section 316 (5) (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) of BNS at Sidhwan Bet police station on the statement of Inspector Hira Singh.