STF says immunity plea of retd DSP pending, busts own probe
The STF’S reply in the court raises question why the retired DSP Jaswant Singh was not arrested despite facing serious charges
MANY SENIOR POLICE OFFICIALS CLAIM THAT THIS IS FIRST-OF-ITSKIND CASE WHERE IMMUNITY UNDER SECTION 64 OF THE NDPS ACT IS BEING CONSIDERED
CHANDIGARH : The ‘rarest of the rare’ move of the Special Task Force (STF) to ‘give immunity’ to retired deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Jaswant Singh in the Inderjit drug case has come under more glare with the agency itself admitting in a Mohali court that the plea of the retired police officer for ‘immunity’ still stands undecided with the home department.
The STF’S reply in the court on Friday has raised questions over the probe done by it in the case because if there was no ‘immunity’ why the retired DSP has not been arrested till now when the challan has serious charges against him.
Jaswant had sought ‘immunity’ under Section 64 of the NDPS Act a few days after the registration of the case. The STF forwarded the application to the home department as immunity can only be granted by the state government or the Centre, it is learnt.
Many senior police officials claim that this is first-of-its-kind case where immunity under Section 64 of the NDPS Act is being considered to somebody who is accused of serious charges in a drug case even as the said provision is specifically for drug addicts volunteering for treatment.
Jaswant is roaming scot free even as he was booked in the case along with dismissed Punjab Police inspector Inderjit in June 2017. The STF mentioned in the challan that Jaswant, as Tarn Taran DSP, was the supervisory officer of Inderjit (who was the CIA in-charge) and had “tampered with” the court records to save some big smugglers with regard to seizure of drugs. Jaswant was booked by the STF under sections 466 (forgery of record of court), 471 (knowingly using a fraud record as genuine), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 384 (punishment for extortion) of the India Penal Code and sections 21, 22, 61 and 85 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Interestingly, the STF’S challan filed against Inderjit on November 20, 2017, also states ”all charges slapped against Jaswant have been proven”. The reply filed by the STF in the court of additional sessions judge, Mohali, on Friday came after doubts were raised over the status of the ‘immunity’ to Jaswant by Inderjit’s gunman Ajaib Singh, who is also behind bars in the case. “The cat is out of the bag now. The STF had claimed that the retired DSP had pointed finger at senior police officials, including former SSP Raj Jit Singh. An independent probe should be done to probe why the retired DSP was not arrested when he didn’t have the immunity. Was he spared by the STF because he took the name of senior cops in the case?” said a senior cop, questioning the STF probe in the case. Ajaib’s lawyer AK Sukhija also contended that the status of the immunity should be decided as soon as possible.
“Till now, the retired DSP has been provided immunity by STF only. If immunity is not granted by the government, the entire case needs to be probed again which will further delay justice,” said Sukhija. February 11 is the next date of hearing in the case.