UK resident, expelled Congress leader: Delhi Police unravel Rs 5,000 crore drug bust case

On Tuesday night, the Special Cell arrested four people with 560 kg of cocaine and 40 kg of marijuana from South Delhi’s Mahipalpur area.

According to sources, Jitender Pal Singh, also known as Jassi, 45, whose father used to work in the Indian Navy, delivered instructions to one of the four accused Tushar Goel regarding distributions and clientele on behalf of Dubai-based handlers.

“Jassi is directly linked to the Dubai handlers. He is one of the key players in the cartel and has been living in the UK for more than two decades. He planned on leaving India later in October, after ensuring that instructions from Dubai were followed. But after the bust, he tried to flee from Amritsar airport,” a source with the Delhi Police said.

The police said Virendar Basoya was identified as the Dubai-based kingpin who directed Jassi to come to India to ensure the delivery of his consignment.

The police said Goel, a first-time offender who owns two publishing houses, was responsible for selling drugs in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) and was answering to Jassi.

During a press conference, BJP national spokesperson and MP Sudhanshu Trivedi also alleged that the neighbouring state of Punjab was already in the grip of drugs. “Was there an arrangement between the drug dealers and the Congress that they would be given a free run in Haryana if the party comes to power?” Trivedi asked.

Trivedi read out from Goel’s purported appointment letter, dated March 24, 2022, as the head of the Delhi Youth Congress’ RTI cell, claiming that it also mentioned the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. “Hateful stuff was already visible in Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’. Now, drugs are also available,” he said.

However, the Congress refuted the allegations, calling them baseless. “The Indian Youth Congress strongly condemns the baseless allegations made by Dr. Sudhanshu Trivedi during a recent press conference. He falsely claimed that Tushar Goel, the alleged kingpin of a ₹5,600 crore drug bust in Delhi, is the alleged Chairman of Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress RTI Cell,” a statement by the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) Media department read.

Citing Goel’s purported expulsion letter, IYC denied any current links to him. “Tushar Goel was expelled from the organisation on October 17, 2022, due to anti-party activities and has not been associated with us in any capacity since then,” IYC said.

The police also arrested Goel’s driver Auranzeb Siddiqui, 23, Himanshu Kumar, 27, who was in charge of the drug distribution in Delhi-NCR, and Bharat Jain, 48), who was to distribute the drugs in Mumbai. They said the seized drugs were brought in from Southern American, countries via the Middle East, and Thailand, and then transported to Delhi from various states.