Punjab ASI to woman peddler: ‘Keep paying me, then sell as much drugs as you want’

Inderjit in her complaint said that Pahara Singh along with his driver Deepa and one unidentified person came to their house on the night of August 3 and said there were orders to arrest her. Inderjit and her husband Harpreet Singh alias Launga have been booked in multiple drug peddling cases. Inderjit further claimed that the ASI said that he “would like to settle the matter” and demanded Rs 50,000 as bribe.

“He came to arrest me without any woman police personnel. I gave him Rs 10,000, but he did not leave. I then borrowed Rs 5,000 and gave it to him. The ASI, however, said that he wants Rs 35,000 more by August 5,” said Inderjit in her complaint.

Inderjit, who has submitted audio recordings of her purported phone conversations with the ASI, said that she told Pahara Singh that she had a surgery scheduled for August 5. “He then called on August 7 and asked for the money. He even told me that he has made a woman drug peddler in the area flee so that we don’t have any competitor,” said Inderjit. She added that on August 8, the ASI reached her grocery shop and said that he will now “implicate me and my husband in a false case of possessing intoxicant pills” after they failed to give him Rs 35,000.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Inderjit claimed that earlier also when her husband had come out on bail in February this year, the ASI had started visiting their home and told them that they can continue to sell drugs but only if they pay him.

In the purported audio clips submitted by Inderjit, ASI could be heard saying: “Sukhdeep nu kine dasseya ki 15 hazaar lai gaya (Who told Sukhdeep that I took Rs 15,000 from you); Etthe tuhada kamm set karta aap da, hun dabb deyo kamm, jiven marzi karo (I have settled everything, now do as much business as you want); Phone tey nahi gall karni… ho sakda mere phone tey laggi hovi (Let’s not talk over phone, maybe someone is tapping my phone)…office aajo…phone te naa gall karo (come to my office, don’t discuss this over phone)”.

Ludhiana rural SSP Navneet Singh Bains said that Pahara Singh has been suspended and is absconding. “Though posted at Jagraon Police Lines, he used to pose as anti-narcotics cell officer,” said the SSP. The FIR against the ASI and two others was registered under sections 7 and 8 of Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) at Jagraon city police station.

In 2017, Pahara Singh was booked in Baghapurana of Moga after Justice Mehtab Singh Gill Commission found that he allegedly planted 500 gram ‘narcotic powder’ on a man. A forensic report later found that ‘the powder was not psychotropic or narcotics in nature.’

The Moga FIR said, “It appears that 100 tablets of the combination were procured by the ASI from a chemist and turned into powder and planted on the accused. There are certain points, which make deep dents in the version given in the FIR and show that recovery mentioned therein is false”. Despite repeated attempts, ASI could not be reached for comments and his phone was switched off.