Arrested cop ran racket in jail, probe on to expose nexus: DCP

Amritsar, July 16

A day after CIA staff arrested two persons for throwing prohibited material, including cell phones and opium, inside the high-security Amritsar Central Jail here, the police have nominated a tainted cop in the case.

let off 2 drug peddlers in nov last year

• Arshdeep Singh, along with head constable Sukhwinder Singh, Malkit Singh and constable Arpinderjit Singh, was arrested by Tarn Taran police in November last year after they let off two drug peddlers, identified as Ranjit Singh Rana and his brother Jaspal Singh, both residents of Bhittewad (Amritsar)
• They were held with 21-kg opium from Ranjit Avenue area on August 2021. They took Rs 40 lakh from them for letting them off. The incident came to light when Rana and Jaspal Singh were held by the State Special Operation Cell two months later

Then posted at Tarn Taran, Arshdeep Singh, a constable, was arrested by the police on the charge of corruption in November last year after he along with three other cops had let off two drug peddlers.

He was running a racket for providing mobile phones inside the jail. Investigations revealed that not only the Amritsar Central Jail, he also used to run his racket in Ferozepur and Goindwal jails.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigations) Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar confirmed the development. He said the police were probing his backward and forward links to expose the entire nexus. Raids were on to nab those from whom he and his two accomplices (arrested on Friday) used to procure mobiles and the contraband.

Acting on a tip-off, a police team led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Maninder Singh, ACP Gurinder Pal Singh Nagra and CIA in-charge Amandeep Singh had nabbed Yaqub Ali and Masqin, both residents of Hothian Mand and Gujjran Da Dera at Vaironwal in Tarn Taran.

The police had confiscated four keypad phones, two touch screen phones, 60-gm opium, five mobile charger leads, 1 adaptor and 35 packets of cigarettes, besides a bike on which they were travelling.

A case under Sections 18, 25, 29, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act, Section 120-B of the IPC and Section 42 of the Prisons Act was registered against them. They were produced in a court which remanded them in two-day police custody.

Bhullar said their interrogation led to the nomination of Arshdeep Singh in the case. The information was shared with Amritsar Central Jail authorities and a mobile was recovered from him.

“He used to sell a keypad phone at a rate of Rs 10,000 and a touch screen phone at a rate of Rs 50,000 depending on the make and model of the phone,” he said. The information regarding his clients in the jail were also shared with the jail authorities and more recoveries are likely to be made in the next course of investigations.