ASI suspended for planting heroin at Shiv Sena (Punjab) leader’s house

Hidden camera footage shows cop placing contraband under mattress before police raid; departmental inquiry ordered

An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) posted with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) staff has been suspended and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed after spy cameras caught him framing a local Shiv Sena leader.

A CCTV grab shows the ASI in the room of the Shiv Sena (Punjab) leader Mahant Kashmir Giri before the police raid. (HT)

Khanna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Darpan Ahluwalia ordered the immediate suspension of ASI Sukhdev Singh and initiated a departmental inquiry after video evidence proved that the seized contraband from Shiv Sena (Punjab) leader Mahant Kashmir Giri was planted.

The case originally began with the arrest of Gurjant Singh, alias Janta, who is the driver of Shiv Sena (Punjab) leader Mahant Kashmir Giri. Gurjant was apprehended with 7.5 grams of heroin, and during his subsequent police interrogation, Giri’s name surfaced, setting the frame-up into motion.

On Saturday afternoon, the conspiracy unfolded when CIA ASI Sukhdev Singh entered Giri’s residence near Khatikan Chowk in plain clothes. Unbeknownst to him, a hidden camera installed in the room captured him placing an object beneath a mattress. Shortly after this, a police team including Sadar station house officer Vijaypal Singh and City-2 station house officer Tarwinder Kumar Bedi arrived at the house with Giri to conduct a raid. The officers claimed to discover 30 grams of heroin under that same mattress and arrested the Shiv Sena leader.

On Sunday, following the formal confirmation of the footage, SSP Ahluwalia officially suspended ASI Sukhdev Singh and the SIT was constituted, headed by an SP-rank officer, to reconstruct the sequence of events and investigate the role of all other police personnel involved.