2 get 20-year jail term over seizure of illegal medicines

A court in Sirsa district on Tuesday sentenced two men to 20 years each in prison and imposed fine of Rs 2 lakh for trafficking large quantities of banned pharmaceutical drugs, the police said.

Additional Sessions Judge Seema Singhal handed down the punishment to Nirbhay Singh, also known as NRI, of Rori village in Sirsa district, and Amit Chawla from Punjab’s Jandwala village, currently living in Sirsa.

Sirsa Superintendent of Police (SP) Deepak Saharan said the case dates back to 2018 when the police registered charges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and launched an investigation into a local medical drug trafficking network.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided a warehouse in a lane near the UCO Bank at the grain market. Officers seized a cache of banned pharmaceutical tablets and drugs worth about Rs 2 crore, Saharan said.

The police asked Nirbhay Singh to produce permits or licences for storing the medicines, but he failed to do so. During questioning, Singh admitted he had bought the drugs from Amit Chawla, prompting police to arrest Amit as well. Both men were later placed in judicial custody.