Punjab: Drugs case: NCB quizzes dismissed woman cop’s associate
NCB interrogates Balwinder Singh, linked to dismissed constable Amandeep Kaur, in drug trafficking probe after heroin seizure. Investigation ongoing.
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) sleuths questioned Balwinder Singh, an accomplice of dismissed woman constable of Mansa police Amandeep Kaur, who was caught allegedly with heroin on April 2, for over an hour in Bathinda on Wednesday.
Investigators remained tight-lipped on the explicit questions asked by the senior NCB officials. The apex anti-contraband agency is investigating the suspected nexus of some police officials with drug traffickers.
Amandeep, who was absconding since April 4 after he was made a co-accused with Amandeep, Balwinder was arrested from Zirakpur on April 21.
He was produced before a Bathinda district court on Tuesday, which sent him on police remand for three days. A local court also extended Amandeep’s judicial remand by 14 days on Tuesday.
Balwinder is being questioned by the district police for leads after 17.71 grams of heroin was recovered from a SUV being driven by Amandeep on April 2.
An Intelligence Bureau (IB) team has already questioned Balwinder, who earlier worked as a private ambulance driver and came in contact with Amandeep.
Questioning of Balwinder by the IB and NCB was kept secret by the district police authorities.
According to Balwinder’s estranged wife, Gurmeet Kaur, her husband has a relationship with Amandeep and both were allegedly involved in supplying drugs.
It was on Gurmeet’s tip-off to the Bathinda police and the anti-narcotics task force (ANTF) that Amandeep was nabbed with heroin.
Officials said four mobile phones recovered from Amandeep, two from her SUV and two from her home, were sent to the Digital Investigation Training and Analysis Centre (DITAC) in Mohali, for retrieving data to establish her alleged links with drug trade and ‘patronage’ of state government functionaries.
“Forensic details from these phones may give clinching evidence. Both were leading a lavish life, which prima facie was beyond their known sources of income,” a senior official said.
