M A I N   N E W S

Punjab cops’ fight against peddlers goes awry
Jupinderjit Singh/TNS

Ferozepur, October 28
Fake cases have come as an embarrassment to the Punjab Police, which is battling drug smugglers, especially in this border district.

Paramjit Singh of Ruknewala village was branded a narcotic smuggler in August this year for the recovery of 30 kg poppy husk from his fields. He was later declared innocent in a subsequent police inquiry. A Congress worker, Paramjit is now fighting hard for action against the policemen who ‘wrongly’ booked him and the ‘influential’ persons who planted drugs in his fields.

The Ferozepur Police, however, insist that they had rectified the alleged mistake by cancelling the FIR lodged against Paramjit. It also took action in the form of an FIR against two persons who wrongly named him for the owner of the 30 kg of poppy husk. One of the two, Gurbhej Singh, has been arrested.

Dissatisfied by the police action, Paramjit said his image has been sullied by the false case and only the front men of an influential group of persons, close to local Akali leaders and cops, have been booked.

In letters shot off to the Punjab Human Rights Commission, he alleged that the SHO of the Mallanwala police station has been spared and no action has been taken against the main accused. The commission has sought a reply from the Ferozepur police. Narrating his tale of woes, Paramjit said owing to old enmity, the influential persons led by one Iqbal Singh, whose brother was already in jail for drug smuggling and possessing illegal arms, planted 30 kg of poppy husk near the tubewell installed in his fields in the village.

The Mallanwala police registered a case against me and claimed to have recovered the poppy husk from near the tubewell. “The case enraged not only me but prominent citizens and heads of different villages in the region. We all took up the matter with the Ferozepore SSP following which an inquiry was ordered and I was found innocent.

The inquiry by the DSP (Special Branch) absolved Paramjit of the charges. It was found that the poppy husk has been planted at his fields. An FIR was lodged against one Gurbhej Singh and Dimpy Passi, who had claimed Paramjit was a drugs smuggler. The inquiry said they confessed the drugs were planted at the behest of the influential persons.

Ferozepore SSP Manminder Singh defended the Mallanwala SHO saying he registered a case on the basis of secret information and later recovered the drugs from the his fields.

Paramjit’s struggle for justice

• Paramjit Singh of Ruknewala village was branded a narcotic smuggler in August this year for the recovery of 30 kg poppy husk from his fields.
• He was later declared innocent in a subsequent police inquiry.
• A Congress worker, Paramjit is now fighting hard for action against the policemen who ‘wrongly’ booked him and the ‘influential’ persons who planted drugs in his fields.