Dismissed AIG Raj Jit Singh as co-accused, probe may get a fillip

Advertisement

Chandigarh, April 20

Nearly six years after the special task force (STF) first took the lid off the alleged police-drug mafia nexus by booking and arresting Inspector Inderjit Singh on charges of links with drug smugglers and fudging records of drug recovery, subsequent police investigation has been in fits and starts.

The case is likely to get a fillip now with the inclusion of AIG Raj Jit Singh (since dismissed) as a co-accused with Inderjit in the FIR lodged on June 12, 2017. Initially, the investigation was speedy, but when the names of senior officers such as Raj Jit Singh cropped up, it went slow and even came to a grinding halt.

The investigation got some push during the Charanjit Channi’s tenure as CM when the STF’s request to turn co-accused DSP Jaswant Singh as approver in the case was accepted. The Home Department approved the STF’s request to give immunity to DSP Jaswant Singh under Section 64 of the NDPS Act.

The case trial hinges on the statement of the approver. The DSP (since retired) has information on why senior officials, including Raj Jit, allowed Inderjit to be the investigation officer in drug smuggling cases.

Inderjit was an own rank pay (ORP) inspector with substantial rank of a head constable. He was not legally authorised to register cases under the NDPS Act but was still allowed to do so. This helped accused smugglers get bail or acquittal from court on the grounds that the policeman who booked them was not authorised.

Police sources said statements of nearly half of the 55-odd witnesses in the case had been recorded so far. The sources said the nomination of Raj Jit as a co-accused in the FIR against Inderjit would provide an impetus to probe.