Jalandhar police have freezed and seized properties worth ₹40.3 crore belonging to six drug peddlers. The major chunk of properties belong to convicts identified as Kulwant Singh alias Kanti, Varinderpal Singh, Sukhpreet Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Dilbagh Singh and Swaran Singh, all from Rehrwan village of Jalandhar in Shahkot sub-division. All of them have already been convicted and have been sentenced to at least 10 years imprisonment in different cases of the NDPS Act registered against them.
Senior superintendent of police Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar said the properties have been seized under section 68 (F) of the NDPS Act, and the action was taken after due approvals from the competent authorities. The NDPS Act's Chapter 5A grants law enforcement agencies the authority to not only seize and freeze, but also forfeit properties that are either derived from or used in illegal drug trafficking activities. The agencies can apply this to every person who has been convicted of an offence punishable under this Act with imprisonment for a term of ten years or more.
"It is one of the biggest drives to attach the properties, both moveable and immovable, acquired through drug money in one go in Punjab so far. The attachment notices have been pasted outside premises of freezed properties mentioning that the concerned properties have been attached on the name of Government of India," the SSP said. The notices posted on the properties mention that these have been attached in the name of the Government of India and will be auctioned.
The properties mainly include a farmhouse assessed to be worth ₹50 lakh in Rehrwan village, residential properties worth ₹2 crore, 255 kanal of agricultural land said to be worth ₹5 crore and other immoveable properties worth ₹30 crore and 22 vehicles, including tippers and JCB's worth ₹3 crore.
"During course or investigation, it came to fore that all these properties were purchased through drug money," SSP Bhullar added.
Police said all these drug peddlers are history-sheeters and have multiple criminal cases registered against them in different police stations across the state in the past two decades. As many as 25 cases under the NDPS Act, attempt to murder, and robbery are registered against accused Kulwant, while 8 cases are lodged against Varinderpal. Dilbagh Singh has 21 cases, while Sukhpreet has seven cases, followed by five against Jaswinder and three against Swaran Singh.
The accused were involved in the smuggling of intoxicated powder, opium, poppy husk and illicit liquor and were convicted in several cases pertaining to the NDPS Act.
It may be mentioned that on August 18, Special director general of police ( law and order) Arpit Shukla held a meeting with top officials in Jalandhar and instructed them to identify and forfeit properties of big narco-smugglers caught with commercial quantity of drugs. Pertinently, as many as 40 properties worth ₹21 crore were seized and forfeited by the Punjab Police this year till August 31.
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