Murder convict held for supply of drugs into jail

PATIALA: The district police have arrested Ramesh Kumar, a murder convict, who is presently on bail, for supplying drugs and mobile phones to Kulpreet Singh alias Neeta Deol, main accused in the last year’s Nabha jailbreak case. Ramesh was arrested from Lalru on Saturday.

Ramesh’s arrest comes after the interrogation of Rupa Singh, an assistant jail superintendent (AJS) and woman constable Karanjot Sharma, who were earlier arrested on the information provided by student leaders Armandeep Singh Cheema of Patiala and Harman Singh Virk of Samana, top leaders of the Gandhi Group Students Union (GGSU).

Both Armandeep and Harman were arrested on October 31 near Rajpura on Tuesday for providing drugs and financial assistance to gangsters.

Inspector Birkramjeet Singh Brar, , who is part of the investigation team, said during interrogation, both Rupa Singh and Karanjot confessed that after procuring drugs and mobile phones from Armandeep and Harman, they handed over the same to Ramesh, who was assigned the duty of ‘munshi’ in the jail.

“Ramesh had easy access to both AJS and gangsters in the jail. Ramesh was convicted in a murder case by a lower court, but was presently on bail,” Brar said.

Meanwhile, both Armandeep and Harman were sent to judicial custody on Saturday. Police claimed the recovery of 700 gm drug powder and two suspicious passports from both student leaders, who actively participated in recent student council elections at PU in Chandigarh.

The case against them has been registered under sections 382 (theft after preparation made for causing death or hurt), 384 (extortion), 392 (robbery) and 506 (criminal intimidation), besides 120B (criminal conspiracy), 148 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly), of the Indian Penal Code. Sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and Arms Act have also been added in the FIR at Rajpura sadar police station.