Himachal Police smashes drug, crime nexus; Nepal’s connections in cannabis
SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh Police has smashed a highly dangerous nexus between the drug peddling and crime, one such case involving a murder accused allegedly linked to notorious Lawrence Bishnoi group, with a dozen criminal cases pending in different states including Punjab and Haryana.
Furthermore, in Kullu, a district infamous for rampant illegal cannabis cultivation on the forest and private land, especially in Manikaran Valley has found a new dimension to the crime with persons from Nepal engaged in the cultivation and trading of the processed cannabis products especially charas.
Six cases were lodged under NDPS at different police stations beside affecting recovery of a large quantity of Cannabis and Cannabis by byproducts. Eight six persons including a Nepal national were arrested.
The police in Kangra have arrested two persons, one of them Rohit alias Chhottu, a murder convict, who has earlier jumped the parole and seized some weapons and illegally trafficked drug consignment to Himachal Pradesh.
Third accused, Rajiv Kaushal ,an alleged criminal from Una, who purportedly has links with the Lawrence Bishnoi group, was recently arrested by Punjab Police with 21 country made pistols.
Senior Superintendent of Police Kangra Shalini Agnihotri informed that it was on September 6, the duty police personnel at Police Post Tanda found an abandoned bag ,which was on search found containing three country made pistols, two sharp edged knives, 40 live rounds of different make and 5,250 tablets of Alprazolam – a scheduled contraband.
A local lead, during investigations, revealed that a suspicious person had stayed in a private hotel at Shahpur ,who eventually turned out to be Vinay Bhandari ,a history sheeter .
On his arrest a few days later, he was also found to be carrying two more country made pistols, loaded magazine, two live rounds, cell-phone and wi-fi modem.
“These pistols were similar in design and made to the ones seized at Tanda. Further investigation revealed that Vinay Bhandari was involved in a daylight shooting near Metro mall in Zirakpur, Punjab and was on the run since then. He was injured during the said incident due to gun-shot explosion and was on the run since then and took refuge in Himachal Pradesh” she informed.
The police investigations thereafter found that Bhandari was assisted by Rohit alias Chhottu from Jawalamukhi. It was he who had arranged Bhandari’s mysterious stay at different places under different names.
Rohit, besides being a murder convict, and one who had also jumped the parole is also facing several cases under the NDPS Act in Kangra and Una district in Himachal Pradesh .He also has links with drug peddlers in Amritsar, where was arrested also.
During interrogation, he revealed that he bought the 5,250 tablets of Alprazolam from Amritsar and was proceeding towards Nangal when he received a message from Rajiv Kaushal . Vinay Bhandri was handed over three country made pistols and ammunition to Rohit for safe custody.
However, due to the presence of police teams on the Tanda road for night checking and nakabandi, Rohit had hid the bag at the spot hoping to pick it up later at an opportune time but the same was recovered by the police team.
