Chandigarh, March 11
Holding that drug trafficking activities have shown a sharp increase over the years and unscrupulous persons dealing in drugs have flourished with the connivance of officers of the agencies meant for checking the menace, the Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Shalini Nagpal today sentenced IPS officer and former Director of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Chandigarh Saji Mohan to 13 years rigorous imprisonment under Section 21C and 29 of the NDPS Act and imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh on him.

The court also held that abuse of power by law enforcing officers is a matter of deep concern in a free society and has to be checked, detected and curbed with strong hands.

Besides Saji Mohan, the court sentenced co-accused former NCB Superintendent Balwinder Kumar to 13 years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh on him.

Saji Mohan along with four others was booked on March 14, 2009, after inputs were received by the NCB Chandigarh from the ATS Mumbai that Saji pilfered drugs during his tenure as NCB Director here. As per the case, Saji Mohan manipulated the contraband seized from various places in Punjab and Jammu during his tenure as Director.

As per the prosecution, Saji Mohan along with four others pilfered heroin from 13 unclaimed seizures, which were stored in the storeroom of the NCB headquarters in sector 2 in August 2009.

The ATS Mumbai had first booked the IPS officer in January 2009 when he was caught with 12 kg of heroin following which the NCB Chandigarh had begun investigations.

In the 100-page judgment pronounced today, the court held, “Such offences, committed by officers of the Narcotic Control Bureau, brought into being to control the menace, strike a serious blow to the rule of law. Agencies deployed for combating drug trafficking have to act within the parameters of law and not as violators of law. The offences committed are aggravated by the fact that they are committed by officers of the NCB, under the shield of uniform and authority, in the four walls of a Police Station,” added the court.

While sentencing the IPS officer, the court also held that drug trafficking, trading and abuse not only eats into the vital of the society, it also affects the economic growth of the nation and contributes to delinquency in society.