The Jalandhar rural police will move sessions court seeking police custody of Harpreet Singh, elder brother of Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, who was arrested with 4gm of ICE (Methamphetamine) on the Jalandhar-Panipat national highway near Phillaur on July 11, officials said on Tuesday.
Harpreet, who belongs to Jallu Khera village in Amritsar district, was allegedly apprehended red-handed while consuming the drugs along with his accomplice Lovepreet Singh of Cheema Bath village.
The court of the first class magistrate in Phillaur had sent both the accused Harpreet and Lovepreet, against whom a case under sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered, to judicial custody for 14 days on July 12.
As per police officials, who didn’t wish to be named, the decision has been taken after the interrogation of drug peddler Sandeep Arora from whom Harpreet had allegedly bought the drugs on the night of their arrest. Arora’s three-day custody ended today.
Based on Arora’s interrogation, the Jalandhar rural police have arrested his accomplice Munish Kumar, a professional photographer, who used to handle financial transactions related to their drug business.
Jalandhar Rural senior superintendent of police (SSP) Dr Ankur Gupta said while tracking forward and backwards linkages of Arora, Harpreet and Lovepreet, the police have gathered vital clues for further investigation, including arrest of the another accused Munish Kumar.
{{/usCountry}}Jalandhar Rural senior superintendent of police (SSP) Dr Ankur Gupta said while tracking forward and backwards linkages of Arora, Harpreet and Lovepreet, the police have gathered vital clues for further investigation, including arrest of the another accused Munish Kumar.
{{/usCountry}}“Based on the investigation, we are preparing a detailed case to approach the higher court for Harpreet and Lovepreet’s police custody as substantial facts have emerged against both of them and their alleged involvement in this nexus,” the SSP said.
One of the senior officials, privy to the investigation, added that they have also zeroed in on an individual from whom Arora used to procure ICE.
“The teams have been formed to arrest Arora’s supplier as he managed to flee sensing police raid,” an official said.
He added that during the course of the investigation, it has emerged that both Harpreet and Lovepreet were regular customers of Arora.
On July 11, police intercepted a vehicle parked along the highway near Phillaur in Jalandhar district at 11 pm. During checking, the police team recovered 4gm of ICE, a digital weighing scale, three mobile phones from Harpreet and Lovepreet, a lighter, half-burnt ₹20 note and foil papers.
The accused confessed that they had transferred ₹10,000 digitally to Sandeep and bought the drugs for consumption. According to initial medical reports, the dope test of both Harpreet and Lovepreet was found to be positive.
Amritpal’s family had already termed police action as a conspiracy to defame the radical Sikh preacher who is detained under the National Security Act at Dibrugarh jail in Assam.