194-kg heroin seizure in Feb 2020: House owner’s interim bail cancelled

The contraband was recovered from the house belonging to Anwar Masih, who had rented it out to the main accused

A local court on Monday quashed the interim bail granted to former member of Subordinate Service Selection Board (SSB) Anwar Masih in connection with the seizure of 194-kg heroin in Amritsar in February 2020.

The contraband was recovered from the house belonging to Anwar Masih, who had rented it out to the main accused. (Shutterstock)

The special task force (STF) of the Punjab Police had recovered the contraband from a house rented out by Masih on the disclosure of one Sukhbir Singh alias Happy, who was arrested with 6-kg heroin in Mohali. With the raid on the house, the police had also arrested seven people, including Masih and an Afghanistan national. During the investigation, many more people were named in the case, including the racket’s kingpin Simranjit Singh alias Sandhu. The heroin was smuggled from Pakistan via a Gujarat port, the investigation had found.

The Afghan national was helping the other accused in processing the contraband. “The accused would adulterate the heroin with other ingredients to increase its volume for more gains,” police had said, adding that besides heroin, suspected 38.2kg dextromethorphan powder, 25.9kg caffeine powder and a laboratory, along with six drums of chemicals, were recovered from the house. Masih had given his house on rent to the other accused.

“Masih had filed a plea for regular bail on medical grounds in a local court around seven months ago. But, the court had granted him interim bail. On Monday, the court of additional district and sessions judge Pushpinder Singh cancelled the interim bail and instructed Masih to report to the jail in seven days,” said a senior STF official, who didn’t wish to be named.

He said, “Masih was booked under section 25 of the NDPS Act. Our investigation had found that Masih was aware of accused drug smuggling while giving his house on rent for ₹80,000 per month. He had also not followed the law while renting out his house to the accused.”

Deputy superintendent of police (DSP-STF) Vawinder Mahajan, who is investigating the case, confirmed the development, but refused to make any comment.