Court slams Panchkula police for shoddy probe in 2016 drug case

Court observed that the glaring failure on the part of the SHO and IO is very disturbing. This also shows lack of supervision on the part of higher officers, it said.

A local court on Saturday slammed the Panchkula police for glaring discrepancies and irregularities in its probe in a drug case registered at the Pinjore police station in 2016.

Representative image

While acquitting the main accused, Parduman Gupta, of drug trafficking charges, the court of additional sessions judge Narender Sura directed the Panchkula deputy commissioner of police (DCP) to take appropriate action against two cops involved in the case probe so that in future no innocent person is made to face trial or no guilty person goes scot-free because of shoddy investigation.

One of the cops is the then station house officer (SHO) of the Pinjore police station, Deepak Kumar, who is currently posted in Ambala. The other was the investigating officer (IO), sub-inspector Mange Ram, who is now posted at the Mansa Devi police station.

Court observed that the glaring failure on the part of the SHO and IO is very disturbing. This also shows lack of supervision on the part of higher officers, it said.

Court has asked the DCP to submit the action-taken report within three months. The DCP has also been tasked with studying the entire case so that IOs and SHOs can be sensitised towards complying with various legislations and rules during probe.

DCP Abhishek Jorwal said he has not received a copy of the order yet, but will comply with it once received.

On April 7, 2016, sub-inspector Deepak Kumar, the then SHO of Pinjore police station, caught a person named Pasang Lamba with 2.8kg charas on the Kalka-Shimla highway.

Sub-inspector Mange Ram, who was the investigating officer, interrogated Lamba, who claimed he bought the contraband from Praduman Gupta of Parsoni in Bihar. On July 11, police arrested Gupta from Pinjore and claimed to have obtained his disclosure statement, wherein he admitted to be the main supplier of charas.

Challan was filed against both accused on December 1, 2016. While Gupta was facing trial, Lamba disappeared after getting bail and was declared a proclaimed person.

What court found

The court said that this was not a case of poor investigation but a case where the challan was filed against the accused without conducting any investigation.

Court said the entire case is weaved around the disclosure statement of the accused and the prosecution did not place on record any document to show a link between Lamba and Gupta. Mange Ram during cross-examination had accepted that he did not have any evidence except the disclosure statement.

Every police officer investigating any case needs to maintain a case diary to record details in a chronological order. Public prosecutor, after perusing the police file, had admitted that the case diary in the present case was not in volume and paginated.