The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Chandigarh director general of police (DGP) to file a detailed affidavit in response to a plea by a city chemist who has alleged that he was falsely implicated by police in a 2020 synthetic drugs case.
A bench of Justice Rajesh Bhardwaj, while hearing the matter, asked the DGP to comprehensively examine the petitioner’s claims alongside the police’s earlier status reports filed during bail proceedings. “The DGP should file a comprehensive affidavit including the facts and circumstances of the case till date,” the court observed, posting the matter for hearing on November 20.
The petitioner, chemist Karan Sharda, and another accused, Durgesh Mishra, were arrested following an FIR lodged at Industrial Area police station on March 20, 2020. Police had claimed that a day earlier, sub-inspector Ashok Kumar and other officials intercepted Sharda’s vehicle near Sai Baba Mandir in Sector 29, Chandigarh, and recovered synthetic drugs.
However, Sharda alleged that he was abducted from the Zirakpur-Ambala highway by men in civilian clothes, forcibly taken to Sector 29, and compelled to call Mishra, who was also arrested. He contended that an inquiry by senior Chandigarh Police officials, supported by documents and CCTV footage, would expose the “actual truth.”
In September 2020, the high court had first directed the DGP to conduct an inquiry after noting conflicting versions. Subsequently, a special investigation team (SIT) was constituted, and Sharda, who had spent three months in custody, was granted bail.
Following its probe, the SIT filed a cancellation report in 2022, leading to Sharda’s discharge. Later that year, he approached the high court again, seeking departmental action against the officers and a CBI probe, alleging that senior officials shielded the accused policemen.
Sharda presented call records and tower locations to substantiate his claim of illegal detention, and also highlighted contradictions in the recovery shown in the FIR. His plea pointed out that the forensic report of the seized injections differed from police claims.
When the case came up on September 19 this year, Sharda argued that the affidavit sought from the DGP in 2020 was never filed. The Union Territory’s counsel countered that departmental inquiries had already been held, and clarified that non-submission of the affidavit was “totally unintentional,” given the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of the case.
Taking note of the submissions, the bench once again instructed the DGP to reconcile the petitioner’s allegations with the official investigation reports and file a comprehensive affidavit before the next hearing.
