Drugs case: High court refuses anticipatory bail to Raj Jit

Raj Jit (53) was dismissed from service in April and is facing a vigilance bureau probe into assets allegedly amassed by him by selling narcotics; it was on July 21 that a Mohali court had dismissed his anticipatory bail plea filed in respect of June 12, 2017 FIR, in which he has been named as an accused. He had approached the high court on July 25

The Punjab and Haryana high court dismissed anticipatory bail plea of sacked assistant inspector general (AIG) Raj Jit Singh Hundal, an accused in a drug smuggling case, observing that he might indulge in threatening witnesses.

The court said Hundal made no efforts to join investigation and had only been filing applications before the magistrate to avoid himself from being taken into custody.

Raj Jit (53) was dismissed from service in April and is facing a vigilance bureau probe into assets allegedly amassed by him by selling narcotics. It was on July 21 that a Mohali court had dismissed his anticipatory bail plea filed in respect of June 12, 2017 FIR, in which he has been named as an accused. He had approached the high court on July 25.

“Petitioner is a high-rank police officer and chances of him not cooperating with the investigation and also threatening witnesses and winning them over is high. In such circumstances, we are of the considered opinion that the benefit of anticipatory bail to the petitioner cannot be permitted,” the bench of justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan observed.

Referring to initiation of criminal case against him following opening of sealed cover reports on drugs by the high court, the bench said it would be a miscarriage of justice that at the end of it and on the investigation conducted by the senior officers, the petitioner is granted the benefit of anticipatory bail, especially in view of the fact that high court itself had in March given liberty to the state to take action on the said reports.

Running with hare and hunting with the hounds: HC

The court further observed that it had come on record that he had acquired expensive properties around Chandigarh, when he was posted in Tarn Taran, facing the largest number of matters under the NDPS Act, is serious matter of concern for the health and safety of young generation to save them from drug menace and which has already been consuming the precious time of the high court. “Apparently, instead of being at the forefront to break the nexus of the smugglers and drug trade, the petitioner seems to have been indulging in the trade of drugs and it is on that account, his role seriously needs to be investigated as apparently he has been “running with hare and hunting with the hounds,” it said

It further remarked that the probe against him cannot be curtailed while granting any interim protection to him who himself is a “well seasoned customer” and granting any such benefit would lead to curtailing the right of the investigating officers to get to the bottom of the “sordid story” of drug trafficking whereby involvement of the police officials in pushing innocent persons into false cases had been uncovered.

“While discussing the contents of the challan, we had already noticed heavy commercial recoveries in which there have been acquittals recorded and therefore the proverb ‘the fence eating the crop comes to mind’,” it said, adding that the allegations are serious and custodial interrogation would necessarily be required for finding out the manner in which Hundal was operating along with his sub-ordinate officials and “subverting the system he was supposed to head in a positive manner”.