Arrested Punjab Police inspector’s game plan was to seize drugs, strike a deal with smugglers

Inderjit, the cop famous for making drug recoveries, is close to many senior police officials and his activities, police sources say, were under the scanner since 2013 when he was posted as the crime investigation agency (CIA) in-charge in Tarn Taran district.
Chandigarh : The role of senior police officials is under the scanner with the arrest of crime investigation agency (CIA) inspector Inderjit Singh, which points towards the organised “police smuggler” nexus in the state. His arrest is also the first big hurrah for the special task force (STF) formed by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh to check drug menace.
Inderjit, the cop famous for making drug recoveries, is close to many senior police officials and his activities, police sources say, were under the scanner since 2013 when he was posted as the CIA in-charge in Tarn Taran district. The STF analysed 13 cases of recovery by him in Tarn Taran. It was found out that despite huge recovery —as high as 19 kg heroin in one case —all accused were freed by court.
The controversial cases registered at Tarn Taran’s Sarhali police station in 2013 were brought to the notice of the police high-ups in Chandigarh by then Akali Dal MLAs Virsa Singh Valtoha and Harmeet Sandhu. Then CM Parkash Singh Badal was also apprised of the cases, but another Akali leader from Tarn Taran came to Inderjit’s rescue.
Raj Jit Singh was the Tarn Taran senior superintendent of police when the controversial cases were registered. STF officials say it’s not a coincidence that when Raj Jit was transferred to Hoshiarpur from Tarn Taran in 2014, Inderjit was also shifted to the district and was made the Hoshiarpur CIA in-charge. The accused cop was now under transfer to Moga district police, which is again being headed by Raj Jit.
“The role of then Tarn Taran DSP Jaswant Singh, who is also booked, is also the scanner as he was next to Inderjit when the controversial cases were registered. You cannot say that the SSP was not aware about Inderjit’s activities as every CIA in-charge is favourite of the district police chief,” an STF member said on the condition of anonymity.
EVERYTHING WAS ON RECORD BUT NO ACTION
STF head Harpreet Sidhu said Inderjit used to tamper with records of witnesses before putting up the case before the court. “Courts raised questions over the probe in controversial cases, but they went unnoticed. We are analysing his other cases too,” said Sidhu.
The STF details say five graft cases were registered against Inderjit since 1998. One case is still pending with the vigilance bureau.
STF investigations revealed that in one case, the accused cop stopped the attachment of a drug peddler’s property. His style of helping peddlers was blunt,” an STF member said. The STF was also amazed at the recovery from Inderjit’s residences. “Even we were not expecting such a big recovery of heroin and smack,” said the ADGP.
HARD ON GANGSTERS
In 2011, Inderjit was part of the police team when two hardcore criminals, Bhupinder Singh “Bhinda” Shadipuria and Jagroop Singh “Roby” Talwan, were nabbed after an encounter, in which Inderjit was also injured. He came to limelight when he arrested kingpin of multi-crore drug racket Raja Kandola in 2012.