Cop held with drug wanted easy wealth

On Monday, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials had to convince themselves they had got the right man with party drug methamphetamine, reports Manish Pachouly.

For a split second, the unsure police team did a double take.

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On Monday, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials had to convince themselves they had got the right man with party drug methamphetamine.

After all, Jagdish Singh (40), turned out to be an Arjuna Awardee and an international wrestler.

He also had to his credit silver medals in Asian Championship and Common-wealth Championship.

He was arrested on the Western Express Highway in Goregaon.

“When we intercepted him, he told us about his achievements. I went numb for a while,” admitted an NCB official. He said that the team once thought they had caught a dignified person due to oversight.

And then, the cat was out of the bag.

Once the team opened

the handbag he was handing over to a taxi driver, they were found 25 kg of the drug valued at Rs 50 crore in the international market.

The team also caught two of Singh’s companions — Harwinder Singh (32) and Harjinder Banga (20) who had come with him from Chandigarh.

After the arrest, Singh told the NCB team he was a suspended inspector of Punjab police.

“He later confessed that he was terminated from service in 2007,” the official said.

Asked why he peddled narcotics despite his accolades, he said he wanted an easy route to earn wealth.

He also said he was a peddler since at least seven years.

The NCB has learnt that Singh owns a farmhouse in Punjab, besides has other properties.

Singh had got the drug from a factory in Patiala, which was also raided on Tuesday.

However, no further seizure was made there.

NCB officials said the drug seized from Singh was of the purest quality and hence its cost was high in international market.

In 2002, Singh was caught with an opium-based drug. He spent seven months in jail.