IPS officer caught peddling heroin

IPS officer caught peddling heroin
An Ex-Narco Cop, Mohan Was Held In Mumbai With Drugs Worth Rs 12 Cr
Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: In the first case involving an IPS officer in a drugs case, Maharashtra ATS on Saturday evening arrested a deputy director of Enforcement Directorate (ED), Saji Mohan, on charges of drug trafficking.
Mohan had allegedly come to Oshiwara to deliver 12 kg of heroin worth Rs 12 crore in the international market and also collect money for selling earlier consignment in Mumbai.
Mohan (37), a 1995 batch IPS officer who had served in the Narcotics Control Bureau in Chandigargh, has been sent to police custody till January 30. He has been booked under sections 8(1)(c) and 21 of the Narcotics Drug and Psychotropic Substances Act. Incidentally, he was conferred a gallantry medal for bravery in 1999. The minimum sentence, if he is convicted, would be 10 years.
Police said that assistant inspector Sunil Mane got a tip-off that Mohan would be coming to deliver drugs at Classic Club in Oshiwara. A trap was laid and the ATS team arrested him at around 2 pm. Police recovered 12 kg heroin, a mobile phone, some CDs and a laptop from him.
“On January 17, our teams arrested two person — Vicky Oberoi and a Haryana police constable Rajesh Kumar — in Mumbai and seized 1.8 kg heroin from them. The two told us that they were trafficking the drugs on the instructions of a ‘senior officer’ and the consignment was given to them by him. During the probe, we found that a police officer was involved,’’ said ATS chief Krish Pal Raghuvanshi.
Oberoi is into selling fish and prawns in Mumbai.
Mohan, who originally belongs to Kochi in Kerala, had joined the ED as deputy director two weeks ago. “He has served in the Narcotics Control Bureau in Chandigargh as zonal director during 2006-08. During this period, Mohan and his team had busted some drug racket. While Saji showed a little quantity of the seizure, he managed to steal around 30-35 kg of heroin. Later, he planned to sell it through a constable and a Mumbai-based agent,’’ said an officer.
During his tenure in the NCB, he used to head a jurisdiction spread over Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. At the time of arrest, Mohan was entitled for a salary of Rs 71,000 per month.
The drugs seized by the ATS in this case were part of the same stolen drug from Chandigarh NCB, said an officer. “We are trying to establish if he sold the remaining heroin earlier or it has been kept somewhere. We have just got his remand and will try to find out as to where did he hide the heroin after stealing it from the seized consignment in Chandigarh,’’ said the officer.
Mohan, who did Animal Husbandry and Veterinary course from Jabalpur University, passed the civil services examination in his second attempt and was selected for the Jammu and Kashmir cadre. He was posted as assistant superintendent of police in 1996. Till 2006 he worked in J&K, where he served as Doda SP. He was then sent to NCB on a deputation. The ATS had seized a Maruti car from Rajesh Kumar, the Gurgaon constable. Kumar was earlier suspended by the Haryana police for alleged criminal activity.
The ATS is also trying to establish if Mohan had supplied drugs to the rave party organizers or the participants in Maharashtra.
Speaking to TOI, Mohan’s father, Varghese Yohannan, a retired Subedar Major, said, “I don’t think my son will ever do this. It must have been planted on him. He was returning from Delhi after attending a week-long training on newly enacted Prevention of Money Laundering Act.’’

Saji Mohan

Source : Times of India Hyderabad Edition 26 Jan 2009