400-page 'watertight' charge sheet is expected to clinch the case
400-page 'watertight' charge sheet is expected to clinch the case
Four telephonic conversations between Saji Mohan and members of a drug cartel are part of the 400-page charge sheet put together by Mumbai's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
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Caught in the act: Saji Mohan (centre), the former joint director of the Enforcement Directorate, was caught dealing in heroin. file pic |
The charge sheet will likely be filed against the disgraced joint director of the Enforcement Directorate this afternoon, who was caught dealing in heroin, at the special Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court.
'The 'H' is very pure. It has to be pure because it is smuggled from Afghanistan,' says one of the intercepted conversations to be presented before the judge. Another short conversation, which goes, 'Be careful while dealing with the Africans,' is expected to nail Mohan, who was also formerly the chief of the Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB).
According to a senior ATS officer, 'H' incidentally is the abbreviation for heroin and 'Africans' are the drug traffickers on the streets of Mumbai. ATS officials said that all the four recordings contain sensitive information, which will throw light on Mohan's drug networks across the country.
Hooked to heroin
As the prosecution prepares to present a water-tight case, the ATS has named 40 witnesses in the charge sheet, including two officials from mobile service provider Idea Cellular.
'We have recovered only 41 kilograms from Saji Mohan. But there are reasons to suspect he has stashed more than 100 kilograms of heroin valued over Rs 10 crore in the international market,' said Additional Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh of the ATS. The recovered heroin, which is of 86 per cent purity, was part of the panchnama presented in the court.
Explaining the modus operandi, Singh said Saji Mohan would steal more than 50 per cent of the drugs consignment seized during his tenure as NCB chief in Chandigarh.
Once the forensic laboratory in Chandigarh had tested the consignment and proved they were illegal drugs, he would then mix the remaining consignment with lime powder. NCB has filed a separate case against him for tampering with seized material and selling it. This case is being investigated.
The story so far...During investigations, police learnt that Saji was posted at Doda in 2006 where he contacted the drug dealer Baljinder Singh. He continued to cultivate Singh even after he was named the joint director of the NCB at Chandigarh. In October 2006, he got Singh and his son Amrik arrested and seized 75 kgs of heroin from them.
Both are now in prison after trials in a local NDPS court in Chandigarh. He then seized a part of Singh's heroin so that he could deal in it. In fact, investigators suspect that Mohan managed to get himself transferred to the NCB so that he could run his drug network. Here he came in touch with Rajesh Kumar (30), who introduced him to Mumbai-based Vicky Oberoi (57). Mohan's drug racket came to light when Oberoi and Kumar were arrested in January this year.
