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Drugs case: Samana SHO, ASI suspended for faulty probe
A departmental inquiry has been initiated against SHO Sahib Singh and his subordinate Jai Prakash
Samana station house officer (SHO) and assistant sub-inspector (ASI) have been suspended for fudging facts and faulty investigation into a case registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Following suspension, a departmental inquiry has been initiated against SHO Sahib Singh and his subordinate Jai Prakash. The action was initiated against both the police officers following a probe by senior superintendent of police Mandeep Singh Sidhu on directions of the Punjab and Haryana high court.
The inquiry was ordered after Sukhwinder Singh, accused in a drugs case, approached the high court, citing flaws in police theories and investigation.
On August 12, a Samana police team conducted a raid at Sukhwinder’s meat shop on a tip-off that he was selling drugs. Police alleged that 1,020 pills were recovered from his possession.
Sukhwinder filed petition in the court challenging the FIR against him saying that it mentioned wrong timings of the raid. The police too failed to mention the exact number of drug tablets recovered from his possession at the time of the raid.
The family of the accused also submitted CCTV footage of the raid in the court.
The SSP said after the high court ordered inquiry, SP (D) Harmeet Singh Hundal and DSP KK Panthay were directed to investigate the matter. “During the probe, it came to fore that the Samana police conducted the raid at 6pm on August 12, while in the FIR, it has been stated ASI Jai Prakash got a secret information related to drug tablets in Sukhwinder’s shop around 8.15pm. Moreover, the FIR stated that the case was registered against the accused at 8.50pm,” the SSP said.
He added that both the cops were found violating the set procedural formalities set by the Supreme Court and Punjab and Haryana high court while dealing with the NDPS case.
“The recovery from Sukhwinder’s shop was found to be genuine. We have also submitted an affidavit in the high court related to action taken against erring cops,” the SSP said.
ASI Jai Prakash was investigation officer in the case, while sub-inspector Sahib Singh was supervising the raid. Sahib was transferred from Patiala’s Anaj Mandi police station to Samana city police station five months ago.
This is not for the first time that the Samana police had courted controversy as on November 29, CIA Samana staff inspector Vijay Kumar and his unidentified raiding team were booked on the charges of kidnapping and extorting ₹30 lakh from a Bathinda resident. Vijay was under scanner for allegedly recording the calls of Congress MLA from Samana Rajinder Singh, who raised this issue publically last month. He was transferred to Nabha from Samana.
