India News | 3 out of 4 Sealed Cover Reports on Drug Issue Opened in Punjab and Haryana HC
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Punjab and Haryana High court Tuesday opened three out of four sealed cover reports relating to an alleged nexus between certain police officers and drug traffickers in drug cases in Punjab.
Chandigarh, Mar 28 (PTI) The Punjab and Haryana High court Tuesday opened three out of four sealed cover reports relating to an alleged nexus between certain police officers and drug traffickers in drug cases in Punjab.
During the resumed hearing in the matter, the court also asked the state government to take action with regard to the three reports of the Special Investigation Team.
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Petitioner advocate Navkiran Singh of Lawyers for Human Rights International (LFHRI) had sought opening of the reports filed by the SIT, which was earlier constituted by the high court, regarding the role of police officials in the drug trade in Punjab.
Speaking to reporters here, Singh said he had filed a petition in January 2022 that the four reports submitted by the SIT should be opened. These reports had been lying with the high court since May 2018.
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"Three out of four (SIT) reports were opened by the court today," said Singh with the high court directing the state government to act on these three reports.
The fourth report of the then SIT headed by Siddharth Chattopadhyaya was not opened, he said.
The three reports were signed by all the three SIT members -- Chattopadhyaya, Prabodh Kumar and Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh. But the fourth report was signed only by Chattopadhyaya, said Singh.
During the last hearing in February, the state government had told the court that the accusation of the state's failure in acting on the SIT reports was misconceived as these reports were lying with the court.
Navkiran was an intervener in the 2013 suo motu petition in the multi-crore drug racket in Punjab.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)