Maninder Singh regular cocaine user, say police

The former cricketer, who was caught with cocaine, tells police he was going through a "rough patch" and wanted to destress himself. Read on...

Former cricketer Maninder Singh, who was caught with cocaine, has told police that he was going through a "rough patch" in his personal life and resorted to drugs to destress himself.

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Police claimed that the 41-year-old cricketer-turned-commentator was a "regular cocaine user" and was planning a getaway in Mumbai, where he was to stay at the Wankhade stadium, to unwind.

Singh has also told police that he had consumed cocaine, a high-end drug with a street value of Rs 3,500 a gram, a few times earlier at a farm house near Mahipalpur on the Delhi-Gurgaon road, sources said.

Police said that it had prior information that Singh had asked Saim Siddiqui, a drug peddler who was arrested with him on Tuesday by Narcotics Branch sleuths, to arrange the "stuff" for him for his Mumbai escapade.

Singh was caught by the police near his Gagan Apartments flat in Defence Enclave Park in Preet Vihar area of East Delhi when he was about to leave for the airport.

While 1.5 grams of cocaine was seized from him, 100 grams of charas was found from Saim. A case under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotrophic Substances Act was registered against them.

Sources said while Singh, a left arm spinner who played for India in the 1980s before retiring in 1993, was booked for consuming drugs Saim was charged with drug peddling.

Singh has played in 35 Tests getting 88 wickets and 59 one-day internationals taking 66 scalps in the 1980s.