CBI books drug peddler, HP police officials

The CBI has booked an alleged drug peddler and three Himachal Pradesh Police officials for allegedly framing a youth on fake charges of narcotic smuggling.
The FIR has been registered against alleged drug peddler Manjeet, Sub-inspector Jai Lal, Assistant Sub-Inspector Ram Lal, Constable Pradeep Kumar and a private person Jagsir Singh on the directions of Himachal Pradesh High Court.
The High Court had observed that there was merit in the allegations of a youth from Haryana that he was falsely implicated in a case by two police officials and a drug peddler, and directed the CBI to register a regular case against them.

The CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry in October after a complaint was lodged by the victim, Ravi Kumar, and his father.
The PE had concluded that the victim was called to Mandi in Himachal Pradesh where he was allegedly detained for 2-3 days by ASI Ram Lal and Constable Pradeep Kumar and implicated in a case under the NDPS Act.
He had alleged that there was a nexus between the police officials and drug smuggler Manjeet, who had called him to the state.

The policemen allegedly kept him under illegal confinement in hotels, a gurdwara and other places for 2-3 days. Later, Manjeet blackmailed the victim's father to pay Rs 20 lakh but when he refused, Ravi Kumar was booked under the NDPS Act, it alleged.

Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan had observed that though earlier inquiries had given a clean chit to police officials, he found it difficult to accept these reports on face value.
He said the reports appeared to be based on conjectures and were perfunctory, without any real attempt to find the truth into the allegations levelled by the father and the son.