Court: Book cops for false drug case against panchayat member

Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, June 6

In a major embarrassment to the state police in its ongoing drive against drug peddlers, Special Court Judge Virinder Aggarwal has ordered the registration of a case against an ASI and two head constables for registering a false case against a panchayat member under the NDPS Act in June last year.

The court ordered the acquittal of Talwinder Singh ‘Mintu’, a Congress activist of Malout village, in the case. Mintu is lodged in a Faridkot jail.

Mintu’s counsel Vikas Setia said, “The police illegally detained Mintu from Amritsar on the intervening night of June 18-19 last year. In the records, he was shown arrested on June 25 last year, carrying around 1 kg intoxicants in his car from Killianwali in Lambi. The cell phone location and call records brought the truth out. A policeman, who had illegally detained him from Amritsar, used his mobile phone handset after inserting his own SIM card during this period. The records procured from the mobile service provider companies worked as evidence in the case.”

“The judge has acquitted Mintu and directed the city police station SHO to register a case under Sections 465 and 220 of the IPC against ASI Jaswinder Singh, two head constables Swaran Singh and Balraj Singh,” Setia said.

The judge, however, did not recommend any action against the police party that took Mintu in illegally custody from Amritsar as his mother had filed a criminal complaint in the court of Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Malout, and the matter was sub judice.

Gurinderjit Singh, SHO, City Muktsar police station, said he was yet to receive the orders.

ASI Jaswinder Singh recently posted as the Sadar Malout police station SHO on this June 1. He said, “If the court has passed orders against me, the matter will be probed further and the truth will come out. However, I am yet to get a copy of the orders.”

Courtesy: The Tribune