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| Saji names 27 accomplices | | Govt, Police monitoring officers who worked with tainted officer | |
ET DESK
Jammu, Feb 8: Arrested in the drug smuggling case, the IPS officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre Saji Mohan has named 27 more accomplices even as the State government and the Police have initiated internal monitor on all those officers and men who were associated with the tainted officer during last years of his tenure here.
The Anti-Terror squad of the Mumbai Police, which is probing the drug case, took into custody Balwinder Singh, a SP of the Narcotics Control Bureau in Chandigarh. Singh had been summoned by investigators questioning Mohan, as both the officers were responsible for huge seizures of heroin in Chandigarh about two years ago.
Police officials here said there were some discrepancies on the information provided by Mohan and Singh, regarding the amount of heroin seized by the NCB. Investigators suspect that heroin seized in the raids on drug dealers was allegedly diverted to the open market by Mohan and his associates. But the question that worries the investigating agency is that associates of Mohan are the people in khaki.
Investigators say the arrest of Mohan and a constable from the Haryana police, Rakesh Kumar Kantharia, is likely to unravel a drug smuggling ring spanning Afghanistan, Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India.
The heroin seized from Mohan, as per police, is said to have originated from Afghanistan and brought to India from Pakistan via Jammu and Kashmir. Here once again Jammu and Kashmir Police is being questioned over their nexus with the people in illegal trade. What is said to be more worrisome is that the drug smuggling network could be overlapping with a wider gang active in smuggling weapons into the country and taking Indian currency out of the country via the hawala route.
Mohan was caught with 12 kgs of heroin while another 25 kg of the contraband was recovered from a flat rented by one of his associates in suburban Mumbai.
Mohan also used to obtain drugs from one Baljinder Singh of Doda in Jammu and Kashmir, who used to smuggle from Pakistan. The packets of the drugs recovered from Mohan also bore Pakistan markings. It is to be mentioned that Mohan, who was attached to the Narcotics Control Bureau in Chandigarh, was earlier posted as a SSP in Jammu and Kashmir, shortly after he joined the IPS. Mohan is said to have developed contacts with the drug smugglers during his stint in his home cadre. This has put him in deep trouble and has established the roots of drugs smuggling to Jammu and Kashmir state. With all these series of development in Saji Mohan’s case, Jammu and Kashmir government is also said to be in action. As per sources, the higher-ups in the government have directed state level agencies to keep watch on some of the suspects as well as the officials close to Mohan.
Officials of the NCB are now in Mumbai and are jointly investigating the case along with the ATS. Mohan’s associate Vicky Oberoi and Haryana police constable Rakesh Kumar who were supplying heroin to buyers on the instructions of Mohan, had been arrested earlier. Sources said ATS team might arrest another cop posted at NCB office here along with a Punjab police official and some cops of Jammu and Kashmir, who are believed to have worked closely with Mohan. In addition to these names, more NCB officials would be on the dock and after the ATS inquiry, action would be taken against them.
Two constables who worked under arrested IPS officer Shaji Mohan for alleged drug peddling are being brought to Mumbai for questioning, a senior official of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad said.
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