Friends,

We all know that Saji Mohan, the 1995 batch IPS officer from Jammu and
Kashmir cadre who recently had been the deputy director in Enforcement
Directorate's Kochi unit and who had served as NCB's zonal director in
Chandigarh for two years (2007-08) and under whom several seizures of
heroin were made in the region has been recently arrested by the
Mumbai ATS. This has been the first instance of a senior IPS officer
being arrested in a crime of the magnitude of drug trafficking. The
investigation is under progress and newer facts might emerge.
A question that might be of interest is how Saji has so far been
presented in the media before and after this incidence.
Here I present a few references concerning Saji as found in the media
after and before his arrest.

Amitabh Thakur
SP(Intll),
Faizabad
# 94155-34526

Now-

"Saji Mohan, the senior IPS officer who was arrested in Mumbai on the
charge of selling heroin, had ironically carved for himself an image
of a anti-narcotics crusader who had exposed alleged police-drug mafia
nexus in Chandigarh. "
"In July last, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal office headed
by him had come out with discloures about several Chandigarh police
personnel being allegedly involved in drug peddling. The NCB had said
many policemen had deep links with the drug cartel and that illegal
drug trade was being carried out in connivance with the police in the
region. Subsequently, Chandigarh police had suspended five of its
personnel suspected to be involved in a drug racket. The action was
taken on the basis of a report submitted by the NCB of which Mohan was
then the Zonal Director. "
"Asked if police will have a relook at the cases of the suspended
policemen, Chandigarh's Inspector General of Police S K Jain said, "We
will take the new development (Mohan's arrest) into account".
"During his stint in Chandigarh, Mohan had initiated a number of
de-addiction campaigns in the tricity (Chandigarh and its satellite
towns of Panchkula and Mohali) in which he involved the area police
and many educational institutes."
"Cracking down on the drug problem in the tricity, the IPS officer had
spearheaded many operations by raiding medical shops that led to the
seizure of banned injections and drugs."
"Sources in Mohali police said there was a lack of coordination
between the force and bureau during Saji Mohan's stay."
"Mohali SSP Jatinder Singh Aulakh claimed all operations were carried
on without any assistance from the bureau. Sources said following the
IPS officer's arrest, Mohali police is thinking of reinvestigating the
cop-smuggler nexus."
"IG (Zonal) CSR Reddy said they could study the case again with a
different perspective. ``But first, we will wait for the ATS reports
on Saji Mohan.''
"Not wishing to be named, a senior police official said they were not
offered any assistance by NCB during drug recovery on four different
occasions. Police officials said though the NCB headquarter was only a
few miles from the district, both hardly ever worked in tandem. "

Previous Posts-

"4 kg heroin seized in Chandigarh (July 24th, 2008)
Sleuths of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Thursday arrested a man
and recovered from him four kg of heroin, worth Rs.40 million in the
international market.
"A close-knit network of heroin traffickers is run by a group based in
Pakistan and their kingpin is a Pakistani national who is at present
lodged in a Punjab jail," NCB zonal director Saji Mohan told
mediapersons. "They bring this heroin via Amritsar. Some Nigerians are
the main buyers who further take it to European markets," he said.
"We are keeping a close watch on the activities of that Pakistan
national and of the Nigerian who was expected to come to receive this
consignment," Mohan said."

"Heroin haven" (Ramesh Vinayak June 13, 2008)
Law enforcement agencies in Punjab, Jammu and Rajasthan have
intercepted about 465 kg of heroin in the first-half of 2008, which is
roughly a fivefold increase over the corresponding period of 2007.
"Seizures have increased because there is more stuff flowing from
Pakistan," says Saji Mohan, zonal director, Narcotics Control Bureau
(NCB), Chandigarh. Enforcement agencies find it hard to net the "big
fish" running the cross-border narcotic syndicates. "Mostly smalltime
carriers and peddlers are arrested," adds Saji. "

"NCB seizes cocaine, charas worth Rs 1.5 cr ( 15 August 2008)
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Chandigarh Zonal Unit today seized 110
grams of Cocaine and 5 Kg of Charas, worth about Rs 1.5 crores in the
international market, from two persons at the roundabout of Sector 39
here today, while they were traveling in a black Scorpio.
Dr. Saji Mohan, Zonal Director, NCB, said that on interrogation,
Suresh revealed that he was a drug peddler since last eight years, and
have been selling Cocaine and Charas to addicts and club-goers in the
party circuit, majority of them hailing from affluent families."