Punjab cop arrested for misrepresenting facts in drug case, keeping 2 in illegal confinement

Police said that while both the suspects in the drug case were apprehended from Patran in Patiala district on September 17, the arrested officer allegedly kept them in his custody illegally for the night, and then showed their arrest in Ludhiana the next day.

The FIR was registered at anti-drug Special Task Force police station Mohali on September 18 and the probe was initiated against the cop, and two private persons in whose presence he had claimed arresting the duo and claimed recovery of 690 gram opium.

According to the FIR, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, the complainant, then DSP (STF) Satwinder Singh Virk had stated that S-I Gurmeet had informed him the day he had arrested two accused — Charanjit Singh, 32, and Ranvir Singh, 32 — natives of Ghagga village of Patiala from GT Road under the jurisdiction of Ludhiana’s Sarabha Nagar police station, on the basis of suspicion that they were carrying some drug.

The DSP added that both suspects had refused to get frisked by the S-I and wanted the procedure done in the presence of a gazetted officer. The DSP further said that when he along with two other cops reached the spot, both suspects were already sitting inside S-I’s official vehicle.

Virk said that when he questioned both accused, they revealed to him that they were picked up by the S-I from Khetla village in Patran, Patiala, a day before, and now he was falsely showing their arrest from Ludhiana.

He said that they told him that the S-I kept them in his custody for a night and on frisking, 690 grams of opium was recovered from the duo and they were booked under section 18 and 18 (B) of the NDPS Act.

Virk, in his statement, added that two other people — Narinder Singh of Muktsar and Lakhwinder Singh of Ludhiana — were also present on the spot. The DSP said that when he questioned S-I Gurmeet that why two private people were present there and interfering in police functioning, he failed to give any satisfactory reply.

Speaking to The Indian Express, DSP Virk, currently posted as ACP (Industrial Area-B), Ludhiana, said, “The duo was held from Patiala district but the S-I was trying to show their arrest from Ludhiana. Such cases fall flat in the court as defense takes a plea that the place of arrest was manipulated. Later, when we checked the call detail records (CDR), they also indicated that they were picked up from Patiala.”

Snehdeep Sharma, AIG with STF Ludhiana range, said the arrested sub-inspector “illegally confined” drug case suspects who were apprehended from Patiala, and the next day, he showed his arrest from Ludhiana and claimed recovery of opium. “It is being probed if the drug recovered was planted or it was a genuine recovery. He misrepresented and twisted facts in the case,” the AIG said.

The arrested officer has been nominated as an accused in the previous FIR registered at the STF police station, Mohali, and charges under sections 127-2 (wrongful confinement), 61-2 (criminal conspiracy) of BNS and 59 (2) of NDPS Act, have been added against him. The two private people who were present on the spot have also been nominated as accused.

DSP Harpal Singh Grewal, the investigating officer in the case, said, “The arrest of two accused who were picked from Patiala is deferred till investigation is completed in the case. It is being investigated that the recovery was genuine or planted.”

Speaking to the media when being taken to the court, the arrested cop, while blaming DSP Virk, said, “Main taan parcha ditta si.. DSP Virk saab ne chadde bande (I had in fact booked the suspects. DSP Virk let them off).”

To this, Virk added that the suspects were not arrested immediately as the entire case was mysterious. “the S-I is now putting baseless allegations on me.”