‘Drug peddler’s house razed after video of spat with sarpanch goes viral

Ludhiana: Soon after the video of an argument between a woman, allegedly a drug peddler, and the sarpanch of Narangwal village went viral, Ludhiana rural police got her "illegal" property demolished Thursday night. In the video, the woman is seen daring the sarpanch to stop her from selling drugs. Besides razing the property, police arrested her along with her husband and another person.
The main accused has been identified as Kulbir Kaur, her husband Balwant Singh and one Tanveer Singh of the same village.
SSP (Ludhiana rural) Ankur Gupta said Kulbir and her husband were also wanted in three previous drug smuggling cases and their property was bought with money obtained from drug sales. Tanvir, who was caught with drugs, said he procured it from Kulbir and Balwant.
The SSP said the action was taken after the sarpanch and the panchayat identified the "illegal property" and the department concerned completed the paperwork. It was part of a drive to identify properties owned by drug peddlers. All such ill-gotten properties will be demolished in the days to come, he added.
The SSP further warned that no one would be spared till the drug menace was eradicated. He vowed to take strict action and impose severe penalties on drug peddlers, and show no leniency to drug traffickers.
An official statement said on Feb 26, a video of an altercation between a young village sarpanch and a woman drug smuggler went viral on social media. Around 7pm on Thursday, when Narangwal village sarpanch Manjinder Singh Grewal was at his house, he received a call from an unknown number. "It was none other than chief minister, Punjab Bhagwant Singh Mann," Manjinder said, adding, "I briefed him about the entire episode that went viral on social media and CM Mann assured me of immediate action. Within two hours, Ludhiana (rural) Police reached our village, arrested the drug peddlers and razed their property, which was built by encroaching on panchayat land."
Manjinder thanked chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann for his "decisive action against drug peddlers." He said the chief minister personally called him twice to discuss the details of the case and appreciated his zero-tolerance policy towards drug-related offences.
Manjinder assured that he, along with the youth from the area, would support the Punjab govt in wiping out the drug menace from our society. He said Kulbir Kaur and her family had been involved in drug peddling for a long time and had even threatened him and the panchayat.
Police said they were at a special check post in the grain market, Jodhan, when they were tipped off about Tanveer Singh, a resident of Narangwal village, being on his way to Jodhan village to supply drugs to his customers. He was apprehended and 11gm of heroin was seized from him. During investigation, Balwant Singh and his wife Kulbir Kaur were named as accused.