A complete status report to this effect was filed by the Chandigarh Police and supported by an affidavit of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) S S Srivastava in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday.

The information has been collected from all police stations of the city between January 1 and November 30, 2008. A total of 87.71 kilogram ganja has been recovered in the 11 months followed by 70.60 kg poppy husk. With 35 cases, the police station in Sector 39 tops the list of recording drug-related offences, with the same number of people arrested.

At Sector 17 police station, 13 cases were registered and 16 people arrested while at the police station in Sector 11, 15 cases and 17 persons were arrested in the said 11 months. At Police Station 3, one case and one person was arrested under the NDPS Act and at Police Station 31, 5 cases and the same number of people were arrested by the Chandigarh police. At the Manimajra police station, two cases and two people were arrested while at the Industrial Area police station, four cases and four people were arrested. At the Operation Cell, four cases and five people were arrested and at the CIA, 16 cases and 17 people were held. At the Special Crime Branch Cell, a total of 16 cases and 16 people were arrested by the Chandigarh police.

The Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur has taken the status report with regard to action taken on tacking drug menace on record and adjourned the case. During the resumed hearing, Justice Thakur expressed his surprise over the arrest of IPS officer Saji Mohan by the Mumbai ATS. “This is so confusing. An officer who had been credited with the arrest of so many persons under the NDPS Act is behind bars,” observed the Chief Justice.

Responding to the observation, senior standing counsel for UT Administration, Advocate Anupam Gupta said: “I am fully satisfied and convinced that the arrest of Mohan is not a false trap and the ATS is keeping a close surveillance on him. It seems to be genuine arrest though a dramatic one. It appears to be a classical though rare case of an officer exerting his influence, making a name for himself, raising the stakes and getting into the act himself. Money laundering through drugs with terrorist nexus is a major problem in the golden triangle since a lot of money is involved.”

The recoveries
* Smack: 1 kg, 239 gm, 16 mg
* Heroin: 21.5g
* Opium: 513g
* Poppy husk: 70 kg, 600 mg
* Ganja: 87.710kg
* Charas: 5 kg, 217 gm, 65 mg
* Cannabis: 63.70g