Amid the Punjab and Haryana High Court pulling up the Punjab government on the steps taken to check drug trafficking, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu alleged that under the watch of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, drug tablets are being sold in jails.
Sidhu also claimed that he is ready to leave politics if he is proved otherwise. “Law and order, drug mafia, jail. The High Court asked for a policy within a week. CM Bhagwant Mann is the jail minister. What did he do?… Drug tablets are being sold inside the jails… If I am proven a liar, I will leave politics,” Sidhu said, speaking to reporters on Saturday.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has recently sought a status report from the Punjab and Haryana governments on the steps taken after the BSF gave a list of 75 individuals suspected of involvement in drug trafficking to the Punjab Police.
The High Court took cognizance of a news article published in an English newspaper that mentioned that the Border Security Force (BSF) gave a list of 75 individuals suspected of involvement in drug trafficking to the Punjab Police.
Moreover, the High Court has made the Punjab and Haryana governments and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) parties in this case and has issued a notice and ordered them to file their replies.
According to the data released by BSF, BSF has seized around 755 kg of narcotics so far in the year 2023. 95 drones coming from Pakistan have been shot down. 36 Pakistani nationals have been arrested, of whom 15 rifles and 38 pistols have been recovered. In addition to this, nine Pakistanis who were trying to cross the border have been killed.
“The State of Punjab is directed to file a status report with respect to the steps being taken in pursuance of the report given to it by the BSF. The State of Haryana will also file a status report regarding the steps being taken in the state in the matter,” the court order read.
“NCB is also directed to file a status report giving details of the persons suffering from drug addiction in the States of Punjab and Haryana and what kind of steps can be taken, to make persons who till date are not in drug addiction, aware of the drug menace, and how they should be prevented from taking drugs, as the narcotic items recovered in the State of Punjab, as reported in the news paper, are huge,” it added.
Earlier on Monday, the Border Security Force (BSF) Special DG of Western Command said that it has given a list of suspected drug traders in the border areas of Punjab to the Punjab Police.
The BSF has also recommended their detention under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988.
Navjot Singh Siddhu released from jail
Earlier in April this year, Navjot Singh Sidhu was released from Patiala jail after serving a 10-month sentence for a road rage incident that resulted in a man’s death about 35 years ago.
Although he was awarded a one-year jail sentence in May 2022 in a 1988 road rage case, he was released two months early due to his good behaviour in prison.
On December 27, 1988, Patiala resident Gurnam Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu got into a fight over a parking space. The former MP and his friend, Rupinder Singh Sandhu, dragged the latter out of his car and hit him. He later died in a hospital. The Congress leader was accused by an eyewitness of killing the latter with a strike to the head.
The duo had parked their Gypsy in the middle of the road near the Sheranwala Gate crossing in Patiala. When the elderly man reached the spot in a car, he asked them to make room for his vehicle which lead to a violent altercation between them.
(With inputs from ANI)