Cops book addict, say no proof against shop owner

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Sirsa, February 3

Eyebrows azre being raised at the alleged leniency shown by the police to a chemist shop owner at Kalanwali in Sirsa caught selling intoxicant drugs to some addicts from Punjab yesterday.

The police booked an addict — Gurmel Singh of nearby Nihalsingh Wala village of Punjab — under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act but let off the chemist shop owner as well as some other addicts also allegedly caught with intoxicating drugs by Tehsildar Dayal Singh.

The shop, Rakesh Medical Hall, belongs to BJP block president Sanjay Gaba’s younger brother. Residents allege the police have been lenient under political pressure.

Kalanwali town is on the Punjab border and has earned notoriety for sale of intoxicant drugs. Addicts from Punjab reportedly come here by train for a daily kick.

“I was on a ‘safai abhiyan’ in the market when I noticed six-seven youths doing drugs that give a kick. When I probed, they told me they had purchased the tablets from Rakesh Medical Hall. Hence, I asked the shopkeeper to close the shop and called the police as well as the Drug Control Officer (DCO) of the area for action,” said Tehsildar Dayal Singh.

“As a responsible government officer, it is my duty to stop illicit trade of drugs and I did my duty honestly. Taking action is not in my hands. It is up to the police and the DCO to do so,” he added.

When The Tribune contacted DCO Dinesh Rana to know what action had been taken against the chemist, he disconnected the phone. An SMS sent to his phone asking him the same question did not evoke a response.

Anil Kumar, SHO of Kalanwali police station, said only one of the six-seven persons handed over to the police by the Tehsildar was carrying drugs, that too in a very small quantity. The police, he said, had booked the person under the NDPS Act. “The arrested person failed to give a satisfactory response to where he bought the drugs from. Hence, we could not take action against the chemist,” the SHO said.

BJP block president Sanjay Gaba said no intoxicant drugs were being sold at his brother’s medical shop. “Had my brother been at fault, I would have asked the authorities to register a case against him,” he said.