Chandigarh-Former Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, seeking investigations by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into drug operations being run from prisons and by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the black money linked to this trade.
Referring to the murder of Parminder Singh Jhota in Mansa, he said that when a drug inspector who had served in the same district was arrested two years ago, the DGP had claimed that he was the kingpin of a gang operating from prison and that substantial assets belonging to him had been uncovered.
In his letter, Jakhar stated that in 2024, the Punjab Police arrested a drug inspector who had served in Mansa and uncovered assets worth crores of rupees. These included ₹7.09 crore in 24 bank accounts, two bank lockers, ₹1.49 crore in cash, 260 grams of gold, foreign currency and immovable property worth ₹2.40 crore. Punjab’s police chief had himself stated that the drug inspector was acting as the kingpin of a gang linked to imprisoned drug traffickers and was facilitating the sale of drugs.
Jakhar further wrote that the case had revealed a drug trafficking network operating from prisons, links to cross-border drug trafficking, and movable and immovable assets worth crores of rupees, warranting a money laundering investigation. Despite this, the Punjab government neither sought an NIA investigation nor referred the case to the ED, even though it involved potential money laundering.
Instead, after the drug inspector was granted bail, the Aam Aadmi Party government not only reinstated him but also appointed him to an important position at his department’s headquarters. Given the network operating from prisons and the substantial money and property uncovered, the case should also have been referred to the NIA and ED for investigation, he said.
Jakhar said the Punjab government itself acknowledges that the misuse of pharmaceutical drugs is currently a major problem. Seeking an NIA and ED investigation into the case involving drug inspector Seesam Kumar, he said that only an investigation could identify the individuals behind the gang.
He further alleged that, despite his arrest in a drug-related case, the inspector had become a source of illicit income for the Aam Aadmi Party government. He said the investigation should also establish at whose behest the inspector had been given an important posting. He called for action against what he described as a drug trade operating from prisons under government patronage, and for the exposure of the money laundering linked to it.