Nurpur: ‘Drug smuggler’ Cobra will stay with the police for two more months

Nurpur: The State Advisory Board, headed by a serving judge of the High Court, yesterday confirmed two months’ additional custody against alleged drug peddler Neeraj Kumar alias Cobra, a resident of Golwan village in Fatehpur subdivision of Nurpur police district. The suspect is currently facing 3 months’ custody after a detention order was issued against him by the state home secretary in March this year. According to information, the Home Secretary-cum-Custody Authority, Shimla, issued the detention order under Section 3(1) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act, 1988. Under the order, the police can detain repeat offenders for three months, which can be further extended up to one year. The authorities can also confiscate properties acquired by offenders through drug trafficking.

This is the second such case across the state. Earlier, the Nurpur district police had secured six months’ custody from the State Advisory Board for another offender identified as Puneet Mahajan in a drug-related case. Nurpur SP Ashok Rattan told The Tribune that the alleged smuggler, Cobra, was arrested with 50.46 grams of heroin (chitta) at Atahra on October 26 last year and 38.40 grams of chitta on April 19 last year. On March 23, 2021, he was arrested by the police with 112.89 grams of charas (cannabis). Rattan said the proposal for obtaining a detention order against the suspect was submitted to the Home Secretary on November 18 last year, who confirmed a three-month detention order against the suspect. After the case was presented before the advisory board, the board confirmed an additional two months’ detention for the alleged repeat offender. Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that all SPs across the state have been empowered to submit proposals for repeat offenders in drug trafficking cases to a three-member advisory committee headed by a judge of the state high court. Nurpur is the first police district to submit two proposals and obtain the required detention orders against alleged repeat drug peddlers.