‘Drug peddler’ Cobra to be with cops 2 more months

Rajiv Mahajan

Nurpur, June 12

The State Advisory Board headed by a serving justice of the High Court yesterday confirmed an additional two-month detention against alleged drug peddler Neeraj Kumar, alias Cobra, a resident of Golwan village in Fatehpur subdivision under the Nurpur police district.

The suspect is currently facing a 3-month detention after the issuance of a detention order against him by the state Home Secretary in March this year.

As per information, the Home Secretary-cum-Detention Authority, Shimla, issued the detention order under Section 3(1) of the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (PITNDPS) Act, 1988.

Under the order, the police can put repeat offenders under a three-month detention, which can further be extended to an year.

Authorities can also seize properties amassed by offenders through drug trafficking.

This is the second such case across the state.

Earlier, Nurpur district police had procured a six-month detention from the State Advisory Board for another repeat offender, identified as Puneet Mahajan, in a drug-related case. Nurpur SP Ashok Ratan told The Tribune that Cobra, the alleged peddler, had been arrested with 50.46 gm heroin (chitta) at Atahara on October 26 last year, and with 38.40 gm chitta on April 19 last year.

On March 23, 2021, he was arrested with 112.89 gm charas (cannabis) by the police.

Ratan said the proposal for obtaining a detention order against the suspect was submitted on November 18 last year to the Home Secretary, who had confirmed a three-month detention order against the suspect.

After the case was presented before the advisory board, the board confirmed an additional two-month detention for the alleged repeat offender.

Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that all SPs across the state had been empowered to submit proposals of repeat offenders in drug trafficking cases to the three-member Advisory Committee headed by a justice of the state High Court.

Nurpur is the first police district to submit two proposals and obtain requisite detention orders against alleged repeat drug peddlers.