ATS officers say the IPS officer siphoned money and sold drugs to fund his philandering ways and luxurious lifestyle
ATS officers say the IPS officer siphoned money and sold drugs to fund his philandering ways and luxurious lifestyle
Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officials say disgraced IPS officer Saji Mohan has a dual nature, which on one hand made him demand high levels of obedience from his juniors, and on the other, made him run a drug syndicate to fund his love for luxury and womanising.
"Incensed by Mohan's involvement with several women during his stint in Kashmir, the locals had demanded for his transfer from Doda," said Additional Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh.
Singh explained that Mohan needed money for his philandering, and the easiest available source for making quick money was drugs, as he was in-charge of the anti-narcotics department.
"Mohan with some help from his subordinates stole some drugs from the huge stock that had been confiscated by the Border Security Force. The heroin, which was lying unclaimed in the NCB's strongroom for a long time, was smuggled to Mumbai and New Delhi," said Singh.
ATS sources said the easy money from drugs changed his lifestyle. He began to indulge in luxury items. In fact, he is believed to have purchased a Honda Civic from the Rs 13 lakh he siphoned from a suspect's account.
However,u00a0 as an officer, Mohan presented a different picture. He was harsh with his juniors and punished them for the slightest acts of negligence, informed ATS officers.
In fact, a number of junior officers serving under Mohan, have offered to testify against him. Mohan had even tried to bribe his way out of the case after he was arrested by the ATS with a huge consignment of drugs on Saturday. A senior ATS officer confirmed that he would resign from the position of deputy director of enforcement if the ATS dropped the drug charges against him, and went ahead to name 18 accomplices.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has also joined the investigations into theu00a0 case. Mohan was the former joint director of NCB (north region) between 2007-08.
A high-level team of NCB officials has been at the ATS headquarters for the last two days questioning Mohan's former subordinate Balwinder Singh. A few other NCB officials have also come under the scanner of ATS.
Heroin racket According to ATS sources, Mohan had managed to steal a huge cache of high-quality heroin that was seized by the BSF. Mohan had been running a drug-racket with the help of associates Vicky Oberoi and Rajesh Kumar.
It was only after the duo were arrested by the police in Oshiwara that the name of Mohan surfaced. ATS officials used Oberoi as a decoy to trap Mohan, and caught him red-handed when he landed in Mumbai to deliver a consignment of heroin.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
