Ludhiana CP acts tough against poll code violators, 77 nabbed with drugs, illicit liquor, cash

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, April 3

The Commissionerate Police (CP) here has cracked the whip against violators of the model code of conduct (MCC), which was in force since March 16 when the General Election to the 18th Lok Sabha were announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Under the special campaign to ensure implementation of the MCC in letter and in spirit and maintain the law and order situation across Ludhiana CP, which was spread across eight Assembly segments, including seven under Ludhiana and one under the Fatehgarh Sahib Lok Sabha constituency, the police have so far arrested 77 criminals for various offences punishable under the relevant provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the Excise Act.

A huge cache of drugs, illicit liquor and unaccounted cash has been recovered from the arrested persons.

Besides, almost 66 per cent of the total over 19,000 licensed arms had so far been deposited with the local police and registered gun houses, as mandated by the prohibitory order issued by District Magistrate (DM) Sakshi Sawhney last month.

Commissioner of Police (CP) Kuldeep Singh Chahal told The Tribune here on Wednesday that a strict vigil was being maintained across the limits of eight police sub-divisions and 28 police stations falling under the CP jurisdiction to ensure proper enforcement of the poll code and check activities of anti-social elements and criminals.

He said 17 special nakas (checkpoints) had been set up across the city, of which eight nakas were being monitored through CCTV cameras.

“Regular coordination meetings are being held with counterparts at the district, sub-division and police station level,” Chahal said while revealing that special control rooms and a separate WhatsApp group had been created for sharing the real time information on the poll code violations.

The Ludhiana top cop said a company of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) had arrived here so far, which was being used for monitoring inter-district nakas.

Issuing stern warning to the arms licence holders, who have not yet deposited their licenced weapons even after the lapse of the March 31 deadline, the CP said as many as 12,800 licensed arms, which accounted for 65.81 per cent of the total 19,447, had so far been deposited in compliance with the DM’s prohibitory order. There were a total of 16,239 arms licence holders in Ludhiana.

“A special screening committee has been formed and is fully functional to scrutinise the arms licenses and gun houses,” he said, adding that there were 16 gun houses in Ludhiana, which had already been inspected by DSP-rank officials and their security-related audit had also been conducted.

Divulging details of action taken against drugs and illicit liquor smuggling, Chahal said 31 drug peddlers had been arrested in 24 cases registered under the NDPS Act since March 16 while 46 liquor smugglers had been caught in 35 cases lodged under the Excise Act since the poll code implementation.

The recovery from the arrested persons included 21 kg of poppy husk, 16 kg of ganja, 1.389 kg of heroin, 2 kg of opium, 20 gm of party drug, popularly known as ICE, 13 gm of intoxicant powder, 1,265.25 litres of licit liquor, 3.75 litres of illicit liquor, 63.6 litres of beer, 64,000 litres of lahan and Rs 30,53,400 unaccounted cash.

Similar action taken since January 1 led to the registration of 168 FIRs, including 95 under the NDPS Act and 73 under the Excise Act, arrest of 221 criminals, and recovery of 1,142.45 kg of poppy husk, 3.864 kg of heroin, 13.007 kg of opium, 18.892 kg of ganja, 150 gm of intoxicant powder, 23 gm of ICE, 5,00,095 intoxicant pills/ capsules, 23.250 litres of illicit liquor, 48,650 litres of licit liquor, 64,185 litres of lahan, and 63.6 litres of beer.

Acting tough against the criminals, especially troublemakers and history-sheeters, the police have so far arrested 78 proclaimed offenders (POs)/absconders and have deleted 567 such elements from the records following the legal process. Besides, 82 of the total 102 identified troublemakers and history- sheeters have so far been bound as per legal provisions while the hunt was on for the remaining 20 such troublemakers and history-sheeters.

Of the total 4,060 POs and absconders, including 3,134 wanted under Section 299, CrPC, and 926 evading arrests under Sections 82 and 83, CrPC, as many as 78 have so far been arrested while the names of 567 have been deleted from the records following the legal process. With the addition of 76 more such elements, the police were still on the lookout for 3,491 POs and absconders in Ludhiana.

However, all four non-bailable warrants issued since January 1 have been executed here.

Strict vigil, enforcement: CP

“We have 666 polling locations across eight Assembly segments under eight police sub-divisions and 28 police stations, of which 164 have been identified as vulnerable. Besides routine security and checking drives, we have been maintaining strict vigil through special nakas and search operations to ensure proper enforcement of the poll code and maintain the law and order situation in the run up to the LS poll,” said Kuldeep Singh Chahal, CP.

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