ARMYMAN HELD WITH 2.6KG OPIUM IN NABHA

PATIALA/NABHA: A team of the crime investigation agency (CIA) arrested an armyman with 2.6kg of opium from Nabha, 28km from the district headquarters, on Monday.

The accused has been identified as Rajesh Kumar, 35, of Bhojasar village in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan. He is posted as a naik in 5th armed workshop in the cantonment area, Nabha.

Superintendent of Harvinder Singh Virk said that following a tip-off that the armyman was bringing opium from Rajasthan and selling the contraband here, a special operation was launched on Monday night. Virk said the accused was nabbed near the Radha Soami Satsang road in Nabha.

“During interrogation, the accused confessed that he had purchased the contraband from Jodhpur for ₹90,000 and was to sell it at higher rates in the region,” said Virk.

The SP said the accused was posted at Nabha cantonment since July 2016 and was putting up in one of the army barracks inside the army area. A local court has sent him to a day’s police remand.

The accused had gone to his hometown on annual leave and had returned recently, said the police. “We suspected that the accused might have a rented accommodation in the civilian area of Nabha for which the investigation is on,” Virk said.

Meanwhile, police have contacted the cantonment officials to get further information about the conduct of the accused, besides carrying inspection of his belongings in his barrack.

ACCUSED, A NAIK, HAD GONE TO HIS HOMETOWN IN RAJASTHAN ON LEAVE AND BOUGHT THE CONTRABAND FOR ₹90,000 IN JODHPUR, SAY POLICE