Soon after the arrest of former Zonal Director (Narcotics Control Bureau) Saji Mohan, family members of the two men arrested during his tenure levelled serious allegations against Mohan and his team.

In December 2007, Mohan’s team had arrested Samrala resident Baljinder Singh and his son Sukhjinder Singh along with an alleged accomplice John F Kennedy, a foreign national, on charges of peddling heroin. According to the NCB’s claim, they had recovered eight kilograms of heroin from their possession. The three are still behind bars.

Baljinder’s wife Amarjeet Kaur while addressing the media on Wednesday alleged that Mohan and his second-in-command Balwinder Singh not only tortured her husband and son but even demanded a bribe of Rs 1 crore.

Kaur claimed Baljinder and Sukhjinder were implicated in the case. “When Baljinder failed to pay Mohan, they implicated him in the case.” At the time of their arrest, on December 10, 2007, the NCB had claimed to have intercepted the Maruti Swift car of the accused near Sector 43 ISBT and recovering the contraband.

Baljinder’s counsel Kuldip Singh Chaudhary alleged his clients were picked up from Samrala and the Air India office respectively and shown to be arrested from ISBT-43. “The car belonged to one Surinder Singh with whom Baljinder had strained relations. Surinder was on good terms with the NCB officers, who in turn helped him settle scores with Baljinder,” he added.

“NCB officer Balwinder Singh had demanded Rs 1 crore at the time of arrest from my husband. When he showed his helplessness to pay such a hefty amount, they arrested him. There is also a contradiction in the time of arrest registered in the documents. In a press conference, Saji had claimed he had made the arrests at 7.30 pm whereas he registered the timing at around 10.30 pm in the chargesheet,” Kaur said.