3 cops suspended after video of woman taking drugs at police station goes viral

Three police personnel, including a woman constable, were suspended by the Kapurthala police on Monday evening after a video showing a purportedly newlywed woman doing heroin at the city police station went viral.

Those suspended are assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Balbir Singh, head constable Hardeep Singh and constable Kuldeep Kaur. In the video, the young woman sporting a ‘chooda’ (wedding bangles) on both her wrists was seen sitting in front of a candle and inhaling fumes of ‘chitta’ from a heated piece of aluminium foil.

Superintendent of police Parminder Singh said a case was registered against the woman in March and she was later arrested; the video went viral a few days ago. He said that after a preliminary investigation it came to fore that the woman was indeed snorting drugs at the police station and three cops, including the inquiry officer Balbir, have thus been suspended.

Meanwhile, in Amritsar, the district police on Monday suspended a sub-inspector (SI) and three ASIs for allegedly not performing their duties against drug peddlers. The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by inspector general (IG), border range, Amritsar, Surinder Pal Singh Parmar to assess performance of cops against drugs

Senior superintendent of police (SSP), Amritsar rural, Parampal Singh said that, during the meeting, SI Lakhbir Singh posted at Jandiala, and ASIs Kashmir Singh, Purshotam Lal and Sukhdev Singh posted at Bal Kalan, Nawan Pind and Khangarh police posts, respectively, were suspended. “They were not performing their duties against drug peddlers,” he said, adding “We have also issued show-cause notices to three station house officers (SHOs) for the same reason.”

Parampal further said they also commended three inspectors, four SIs and four ASIs for good performance against drug smugglers. On July 6, the rural police had suspended an SHO and two ASIs for not taking appropriate action against the accused in two drug overdose deaths.

Further, in Fazilka, seven police personnel, including the local narcotics cell chief, were suspended on charges of connivance with drug dealers. This came after a video viral on social media showed, during a procession in Arniwala on Thursday against drugs, a man named Bablu, who identified himself as “a former police informer in drug cases”, charged these men with being hand in glove with smugglers. These included S-I Punjab Singh, in-charge of narcotics cell.