AIG Raj Jit sacked over drug mafia 'links'

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 17

Acting on his promise to take “those involved in the drug trade to task”, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann today dismissed controversial AIG Raj Jit Singh Hundal whose name figured in the SIT reports on the police-drug mafia nexus.

The three special investigative reports, which had been lying in a sealed cover with the Punjab and Haryana High Court for about five years, were made public recently.

CM Mann has also recommended a vigilance probe over Raj Jit Singh’s “disproportionate” assets. The sacked AIG faces serious charges of aiding drug smugglers with shoddy probe reports against them. He is also charged with framing people in drugs cases and extorting money from them.

Raj Jit is the first senior officer to be dismissed on such serious charges. He was posted as AIG-HQ in the NRI wing. His main accomplice Inspector Inderjit Singh was dismissed from service in July 2017. Among other charges, the SIT report also accused Raj Jit of recommending double promotion for Inderjit even though the latter was facing criminal cases.

The dismissal came nearly a week after the court made the three reports public. The AAP government had made its intentions clear during a court hearing in February that no action could be taken as the reports had been lying with the court. After receiving the reports last month, CM Mann had tweeted, “Received three files related to the drugs issue… Will take strict action against those responsible for ruining the future of Punjab’s youth.” He had alleged the drug trade flourished during the tenure of previous Congress and SAD-BJP governments.

The SIT was constituted after Raj Jit Singh moved the court seeking an independent probe by any officer barring the then STF chief Harpreet Singh Sidhu. The latter, in his findings which were part of the SIT report, had said, ”It is necessary that the role of Raj Jit Singh, Inderjit Singh and other persons associated with them be investigated for using individuals/companies for investing proceeds of crime in India and abroad.”

In 2013, he had allegedly used his fake death certificate to get an MBBS seat for his daughter.