300 Uttarakhand cops raid Bareilly neighbourhood, UP police caught unawares: ‘They hid identity’

“They arrived in 70 government buses and private vehicles. To hide their identity, stickers of a marriage party were pasted on several vehicles,” a senior Uttar Pradesh police officer said.

While residents of the localities have called the raid “baseless and illegal”, the Bareilly Senior Superintendent of Police Anurag Arya said they were unaware of raids.

“We have received several complaints regarding the raid by the Uttarakhand police. I have asked Nilesh Mishra, the Deputy SP, Highway, to review all the complaints and submit a report within three days. We will decide what needs to be done based on the findings of the report,” the SSP said.

A total of 16 people were detained and taken to Pul Bhatta police station in Udham Singh Nagar, officers in the Uttarakhand police said. Although 15 were eventually released while one, identified as Mohammad Asif, was arrested.

“Asif has been involved in drug peddling in our area for a long time and has NDPS cases against him. We have sent him to judicial custody and a probe is on to find more accused,” Pul Bhatta SHO Pradeep Mishra said, adding that while the others had been released eventually, they are still being investigated.

“The raid was part of our initiative to crack down on drug peddlers who have been allegedly supplying substances in the state. We have been frequently recovering drugs and arresting accused over the last few months,” he said.

According to locals, the police raids occurred when residents in the area were preparing for ‘iftaar’ during the Ramadan month.

“Suddenly, a dozen cops started banging on the door of my house. I opened it and they stormed in, hurling abuses. They took with them my four sons — Shahid, Rashid, Adnan and Arif — calling them drug pedlars,” Varisa Khatun, a 52-year-old resident of Agras village, said, adding that she had registered a complaint with the Fatehganj West police station in Bareilly Monday afternoon.

Roshan Lal, 55, was among those picked up by the police Monday but eventually released.

“I have never been to jail and don’t have a criminal record. Yet, I was picked up by the Uttarakhand Police early Monday morning. The cops blamed me for indulging in smuggling drugs from here to that state.”

When contacted, Uttarakhand’s IG Law and Order Nilesh Bharne denied any knowledge of the raids. “We were neither informed of this nor was this based on our directions,” he said.