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Kupwara: 5 cops, 10 others denied bail in drug trafficking case
The additional district and sessions judge, Kupwara, Khem Raj Sharma “dismissed as merit less” the bail application of the 15 persons, four of whom are special police officers (SPOs) and one is a constable
A court in north Kashmir’s Kupwara on Saturday rejected the bail applications of 15 persons, including five policemen, involved in alleged trafficking and distribution of drugs and narcotics in the Valley allegedly sent by a supplier from Pakistan through the Line of Control (LoC).
The additional district and sessions judge, Kupwara, Khem Raj Sharma “dismissed as merit less” the bail application of the 15 persons, four of whom are special police officers (SPOs) and one is a constable.
It has been alleged that the policemen – SPOs Irshad Ahmad Khan, Haroon Rashid Bhat, Zahid Maqbool, and Sajad Ahmad Bhat, and constable Abdul Majeed Bhat – were either supplying drugs or helping people in procuring the contraband in lieu of hefty amounts of money.
“…In the light of existing law on the subject (I) feel myself constrained not to exercise discretionary relief of bail in favour of the applicants or accused at this stage when the investigation in the case is still pending and in the instant case the alleged act of the accused persons prima facie proved the offences attributed to them,” the 10-page joint order said.
The court said that the custodial investigation of the accused persons is required for assisting the investigating agency to reach a logical conclusion to curb the menace of drugs. “There is no reasonable ground to believe that the applicants/accused is not guilty of the alleged offences,” the order said.
The 15 persons -- 14 from Kupwara and one from Baramulla -- were arrested in December last year under sections 8/21, 29 of the NDPS Act.
Quoting additional public prosecutor Dar Rasheed, the order criticised the accused police personnel saying they have become “predators who jeopardise the future of youth”.
“Some of the accused persons are police personnel and despite confidence reposed in them not only by the government but by the society also to safeguard the safety of state and society, they instead become predators thereby jeopardising the security of the state and society, rather future of the younger generation of the state,” it said.
The accused had sought bail on the grounds that they were arrested in a “false and frivolous case” and would abide by the terms and conditions as may be imposed by the court.
The police and other security forces have been aggressively cracking down on the movement of narcotics through north Kashmir districts of Baramulla and Kupwara and have recovered huge consignments of drugs as well as weapons in the past few years, which were allegedly being supplied through the LoC from PoK.
The police report submitted in the court stated that the group was busted during a raid at the house of alleged drug dealer Waseem Najar in Kupwara from where ‘brown sugar’ was recovered on December 9, 2022. The police had said that Najar was provided 120gm of ‘brown sugar’ by SPO Irshad Ahmad Khan. Khan’s disclosure was pivotal as he named three more persons, including SPO Haroon Rashid Bhat.
“From Najar, he (Khan) received (money in four instalments) ₹50,000, 1.16 lakh and 1 lakh in cash besides ₹16,000 through bank transfer,” the report said.
The chain of people from whom the drugs were supplied stops at Tamheed Ahmad Malik, whose father Shakir Khan is based in Pakistan and allegedly supplies drugs from there. “Malik disclosed that his father had given him two packets of brown sugar through the border out of which he brought one packet (about 900gm) to Hamaltpora and sold it to Asif and Khursheed,” the report said. Later on, two more packets of brown sugar-like substance were recovered from Malik’s home at Keran.
Najar had also confessed to buying the brown sugar from SPO Sajad Ahmad Bhat. The report stated that another drug addict, Aabid Bhat, along with constable Abdul Majeed Bhat, had first approached Najar and then SPO Zahid Maqbool Dar for drugs. The analysis of call details also revealed that Najar had high frequency of calls with the accused policemen.
While arguing against the bail of the accused in January, Dar Rasheed argued that the police investigation has revealed that the accused persons were part of a well organised “drug mafia involved in illicit trafficking”.
He stated that the money from drug trafficking goes into funding of militancy in the UT.
