Inderjit seized 10,400 kg poppy in 10 months, successor got 46 kg

He is now in jail for allegedly being involved in drug smuggling, but this Punjab police inspector sure made high scores in recovery of illegal drugs out in the field. Kartarpur, a town 17 km from Jalandhar on the national highway to Amritsar, saw huge seizure of poppy husk when the police station here was headed by Inderjit Singh.

From May 20, 2012, to March 24, 2013, now-dismissed inspector Inderjit led recovery of 10,400 kg of poppy husk in the town, otherwise famous for its furniture and for its founder being Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh master. After he was shifted from the rural police unit, the recovery witnessed a sharp decline. His successor in the next 10 months confiscated only 46 kg of poppy husk.

One case that’s still under investigation saw seizure of 4,025 kg of poppy husk on October 7, 2012; five persons were booked. Another major recovery was of 3,007 kg two months before that. Also, when Inderjit was head of the crime investigation agency (CIA) of Kartarpur, there was a seizure of 1,925 kg on May 18, 2013, and 220 kg on May 9.

After his transfer from Kartarpur, the biggest recovery was of 10kg poppy husk, in March 2014, and 5kg in July 2014. Since then, there has been no major recovery. Requesting anonymity, a senior police official said the Kartarpur stint was a period when he became famous for arresting peddlers.

Such recoveries are made only when someone has proximity with persons involved in the racket, and gang loyalties decide who would be caught, he added.

Inderjit has allegedly confessed before the police’s antidrug special task force (STF) of links with peddlers in the Amritsar region. Even in Phagwara, on the Jalandhar-Delhi NH, similar major recoveries came to the fore in months when he was CIA head there.