Police turn up with faulty warrant, return empty-handed

The document they came armed with demanded the custody of Jammu & Kashmir cadre officer Saji Mohan, arrested for possession of 12.8 kg of pure heroine in Oshiwara on January 25.

They came to Mumbai all charged up and ready to take custody of an IPS officer suspected of drug-running.

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But the Chandi-garh police found they had made a wasted trip, and were forced to return to base empty-handed — they had brought the wrong warrant.

The document they came armed with demanded the custody of Jammu & Kashmir cadre officer Saji Mohan, arrested for possession of 12.8 kg of pure heroine in Oshiwara on January 25.

The problem: The document they had ferried all the way from Chandigarh, over 1,600 km away, was addressed to the jailor at the Arthur Road prison rather than the court concerned.

“The warrant should have been addressed to the court having jurisdiction over him,” said Anti-Terroism Squad chief K.P. Raghuvanshi.

“No accused can be handed over on a warrant addressed to jail authorities.”

On January 25, Mohan, who was earlier posted with the Narcotics Control Bureau’s zonal unit in Chandigarh, was arrested at Classique Club in Oshiwara.

Following information obtained during his interrogation, the Anti-Terrorism Squad raided a flat in Naigaon and recovered another 25 kg of the narcotics.