Taking serious note of Congress MLA Kulbir Singh Zira’s suspension from the party, AAP on Thursday said that the Punjab Government should order probe into the legislator’s allegations levelled against the police brass and liquor mafia under the High Court’s supervision.
Congress’ Zira MLA had alleged involvement of the police brass in perpetuating the menace of drugs in the state.
Reacting to the Zira’s suspension, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Vidhan Sabha Harpal Singh Cheema said that though the decision was Congress’ personal affair, it was “taken in a hurry”.
“Zira’s suspension in utter haste is indicative of the fact that, like Capt Amarinder Singh, Punjab Congress Committee chief Sunil Jakhar too had succumbed to the mounting pressure of the mighty drug lords running the nefarious trade in connivance with the police top brass,” he said.
Cheema said that Zira had raised a voice against his own party government maintaining a stoic silence over the issue. “Notably, prior to Zira’s allegations, another Congress MLA Surjit Dhiman had raised the issue of rampant sale of drugs in the state. AAP had already been crying hoarse over the issue for a pretty long time, saying that the drugs had taken heavy toll on the youth of Punjab,” he added
AAP leader said that the Government had, instead of taking on the zombie of drugs, had allowed the menace to flourish under its watch. He blamed Capt Amarinder for conniving with drug lords like his predecessors, the Badals.
Referring to the DGP (STF) Mohd Mustafa’s recent statement to the press, Cheema said that it was unfortunate that the police was conniving with the drug lords to run the trade under the protective patronage of the government. “Mustafa’s admission that the police force down to the level of ‘Thanedar’ (inspector) was aware of the unhindered sale of drugs in the state,” he said while demanding stringent action against the erring officials.
“Mustafa too had warned police officials of stringent action if lapses were found on their part when dealing with drug smugglers and peddlers. STF had come across cases in which filing of challans in NDPS cases were deliberately delayed beyond the 180-day period to aid the accused,” he added.
It is on record that more than 100 Punjab Police personnel have been arrested for smuggling drugs or abetting illicit trade since 2014 — when the state first began its crackdown on the menace. Of these, nearly 30 have been arrested in the 15 months of the Congress government alone which include two DSPs while the remaining are non-gazetted ranks, he said adding that an SSP has also been accused and questioned for allegedly patronizing an inspector charged with smuggling drugs.
Two other SSPs are facing inquiries for helping drug-tainted cops get relief from court. The Special Task Force (STF) formed to check drug smuggling has nabbed 12 policemen from Punjab, including sacked Inspector Inderjit Singh and retired DSP Jaswant Singh.
Cheema demanded that the Government should order inquiry into all the allegations levelled against the accused by Zira and also by the liquor contractor against Zira under the supervision of High Court so that the fact could be brought forth and to ensure that those behind this nexus were brought to justice.