‘Law enforcer becomes lawbreaker’: Delhi cop dismissed from service for ‘role’ in drug syndicate, evading arrest

“Therefore it is appropriate to invoke Article 311 (2) (b) of the Constitution of India since a departmental enquiry cannot be conducted in his absence. His conduct warrants dismissal from service and the regular departmental proceedings should be dispensed with.”

The case dates back to  January 2, 2024, when the Anti-Narcotics Squad of Delhi Police’s Southeast district received a tip-off regarding “a storehouse from where drugs are distributed to peddlers”.

“Surojit Bapri will receive a large ganja consignment at a house in Ashram’s Siddharth Nagar,” the informer had told the Anti-Narcotics Squad. “That house is a storehouse from where drugs are distributed to peddlers.”
Though a team of plain-clothes officers had formed a cordon around the house by 9.35 am to bust the drug ring, the accused only turned up on a black motorcycle at 11.30 pm. In the arrests of gang members and seizures that followed, the police were in for a rude surprise. Police had said that one of the accused, Surojit, 29, claimed during questioning that the narco ring was being run by one of their own — SI Naresh Kumar.

So the Delhi Police started searching for SI Kumar. The accused SI, who was posted with the Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Cell of the Delhi Police Crime Branch, however, had gone “missing”. Subsequently, police named him as the “main conspirator” of this drug syndicate.

How did the Delhi Police sleuths stumble upon their colleague’s alleged role in the drug ring? A team led by Inspector Vishnu Dutt Tiwari, police had said, was formed to nab the suspected drug peddlers after the January 2, 2024, tip-off. Besides officers forming a picket around all exits and entrances of the Siddharth Nagar colony, the informer was placed with two team members near the entrance to help identify Surojit and his accomplice.

“As soon as the accused arrived at the colony on a motorcycle at 11.30 pm, the informer confirmed their identities,’’ a police officer had told The Indian Express. “Surojit parked the motorcycle and went to open the main door of the house. The police moved in but were spotted by Surojit. He rushed inside and tried to lock the door, but the officers prevented him from doing that.”

The accused, police said, claimed SI Kumar “procured ganja from Odisha and Northeast states” and “stored them in (two) houses in Ashram, from where he sold them to customers in the city”.

The accused officer was served a notice under Section 67 of the NDPS Act to appear before the Investigating Officer (IO) on January 28, 2024. When SI Kumar failed to show up, a local court issued a non-bailable warrant against him on July 10. Investigators said they received inputs that the SI had fled to Nepal before taking the dunki (illegal migration) route to South Africa via Syria. However, the leads could not be verified.

Since he went on the run, Kumar had moved two anticipatory bail pleas — a petition in February 2024 that was rejected, followed by another one in early July last year before the NDPS Court in Saket.

Recently, on March 22 this year, Additional Sessions Judge Tarun Sahrawat of Saket Court dismissed his anticipatory bail again. “The allegations against the applicant/accused are very grave in nature. The possibility of tampering with evidence and influencing witnesses also cannot be ruled out,” the judge said.

According to colleagues, SI Kumar joined the Delhi Police in 1990 as a constable. Of his 34 years in police service, he spent a decade with the Crime Branch. A former colleague had told The Indian Express that SI Kumar had “busted several drug rackets during his service”.

The dismissal order, meanwhile, termed his (SI Naresh Kumar’s) act as a clear case of a law enforcer becoming a lawbreaker which erodes public trust in the police department.

Police said he was suspended on February 22 last year and the period till the issue of the (dismissal) order will be considered as “period not spent on duty”.