Goniana drug seizure: Bathinda IG orders probe against SSP, DSP; wants report in 10 days

Goniana drug seizure Officers were under inquiry for conduct in release of the accused; action after Faridkot SSP’s inquiry report indicts them for dereliction
Bathinda : Bathinda inspector general of police (IG) MS Chhina has marked a 10-day inquiry against SSP Navin Singla and DSP Gurjit Singh Romana for departmental action to be taken against the duo. The conduct of the officers was under inquiry in the Goniana drug seizure case in April this year, where the accused, Gobind Gupta, a drug trader was released. The drugs seized included 800 tablets of alprazolam and 270 of gardenal barbitone – habit-forming drugs had been seized.
IG Chhina had then ordered Faridkot SSP Nanak Singh to conduct an inquiry. His report has now found the officers guilty of ‘dereliction of duty’, sources said. Officially, SSP Nanak maintained that he would submit his report to the Bathinda IG soon. DIG Ashish Chaudhary has been tasked with Wednesday’s time-bound inquiry and has been asked to recommend action that can be taken against the duo under Punjab Service Rules.
HT had brought the discrepancies to light in its June 7 report.
When contacted, IG Cheema confirmed the development. He added Nehianwala SHO had also been directed to submit a charge-sheet in court against the accused. They had previously been discharged in the drug-seizure case.
The case
Gupta, the accused caught with drugs, was booked on April 10 under Section 22 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act at the Nehianwala police station near Bathinda.
However, on April 20, the court of additional district and sessions judge LK Singla granted him bail on the basis of an inquiry report from the DSP. The SSP had endorsed the report that sought cancellation of the FIR.
DSP’s inquiry report had quoted drug inspector
The DSP’s inquiry report, which gave a clean chit to the accused, had quoted health department’s drug inspector Seshan Mittal as saying that the seized consignment did not come in the category of the banned or habit-forming drugs.
Bathinda DC Diparva Lakra had summoned the said drug inspector after the HT report and sought his explanation. Mittal had accompanied the raiding team, led by sub-inspector Sukhwinder Kaur, that seized the drugs.