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The Punjab and Haryana high court has handed over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in an August 2024 drug seizure case reported in Hisar, Haryana.

“…where any person appears to have been falsely nominated as an accused by the police in a case where the minimum sentence is 10 years of rigorous imprisonment, then, for a fair and impartial investigation to take place, it is imperative that the investigation be handed over to an independent agency so that the unvarnished truth can surface,” the bench of justice JS Bedi observed while transferring the probe.

The court acted on the plea from Kusum Rani, wife of the accused person, Lovkesh Kumar, who police claimed was caught with 900 tablets of Diphenoxylate Hydrochloride and Atropine Sulphate, both controlled drugs. A criminal case for possessing commercial quantity drugs was registered against him at 1am on August 12 in 2024.

“The abduction was captured on CCTV cameras. She alongwith her mother-in-law, a friend of her husband alongwith the village sarpanch visited the police station that morning at about 8am, but the police officials provided no explanation and continued to detain Lovkesh unlawfully. They manipulated the records to show his arrest later,” she had claimed, adding that she had also written to the police and the director general of police (DGP), but no action was taken. She then approached the HC in January 2025 seeking a CBI probe.

Upon court intervention, further investigation was conducted by a special investigative team (SIT) that concluded that the recovery of narcotic tablets from Lovkesh was found to have been made in the presence of a gazetted officer.

If the recovery had been false or doubtful, the accused could have informed the gazetted officer at that time, which he did not. The SIT said, no evidence has emerged to establish that the FIR was false, or that accused Lovkesh was falsely implicated. Challan against Lovkesh and Deepak, one more accused had already been filed before trial court on November 4, 2024 and charges were framed against the duo in November 2024.

The court said that police have admitted that Lovkesh was taken away for interrogation in the early hours on August 11 and after a few hours, he was handed over to his friend, Ramesh Kumar. However, his arrest has been shown only post mid-night on August 12.

“The explanation given by the investigating agency, that Lovkesh had been released at 11am on August 11 to one Ramesh and thereafter, arrested at night, has itself been found to be in violation of settled procedure by various police officers including an SIT constituted post the order of this court,” the court observed.

“However, the findings of various police officers, including the SIT—which held that the release of Lovkesh to Ramesh (the accused’s friend) amounted to a procedural violation but that the investigation itself was conducted in a fair and impartial manner—cannot be accepted at face value. This is in view of the categorical statement of Ramesh that the custody of Lovkesh was never handed over to him, and that he had signed certain papers only on the morning of August 12 when he, along with the wife of Lovkesh, had gone to visit him at the police station,” the court recorded, adding that the prosecution’s version appears to be “somewhat doubtful”.

Hence, it ordered a CBI probe, quashed the order framing charges, and asked the CBI to try to conclude the investigation within three months.

Surender Sharma is a principal correspondent at Chandigarh. He covers Punjab and Haryana high court.