Sealed on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court for five years, three reports on the drug dealings in Punjab by a special investigation team were made public on Thursday. The reports have called for further probe into the role of several police officials, who specifically sought the posting of controversial and dismissed inspector Inderjit Singh under them.
The court handed over the reports to the AAP-led Punjab government on April 5, when Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann had tweeted that he has received the them and will soon take action.
The drug menace in Punjab has been a major electoral issue during successive polls in the state. There has been a consistent demand for making these reports public over the years, and provides an insight into the role of police as well as politicians in the racket.
Lawyers for Human Rights International (LFHRI), which obtained official copies from the high court, made these records public.
The dismissed cop is accused of running a racket, where he falsely implicated innocent persons in drug smuggling cases; he is charged with smuggling from Pakistan and planting drugs on innocent people to extort money or to sell the narcotics. He allegedly gave relief to smugglers through discharge, bail orders and acquittals and through failed samples in connivance with personnel at the Forensic Science Laboratory.
The report alleges the complicity of AIG Raj Jit Singh, who was earlier the Moga SSP, in recommending the promotion and posting of Inderjit despite criminal cases against him. The report also questions the property deals made by Raj Jit and his family and calls for further investigation into this.
The high court had formed an SIT headed by the then DGP Siddharth Chattopadhyaya in December 2017 after LFHRI filed a PIL for the eradication of drug menace in Punjab. The court gave a mandate to the SIT to investigate the allegations of complicity of Raj Jit with respect to his alleged association with Inderjit, who was arrested by the special task force on drugs headed by then ADGP Harpreet Singh Sidhu.
Raj Jit has denied the charges against him. The SIT has investigated Inderjit’s role in smuggling drugs from Pakistan. It concluded that Inderjit had extorted from different smugglers and other persons, and that there are many other officials who got Inderjit posted under them from time to time.
“Similar complicity of Inderjit with those officers can be a subject matter of a separate inquiry/investigation,” the reports suggested.
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