'Soon after arrest of IAS officer's husband, CISF commandant offered her help'

Soon after planting drugs in a car of an IAS officer's husband, the accused CISF commandant tried to contact the bureaucrat with whom he had one-sided affection on the pretext of offering her, police sources said. CISF commandant Ranjan Pratap Singh, who is posted as director of bureau of security (BOS) in the Ministry of External Affairs, and his friend Neeraj Chauhan were charged with criminal conspiracy and under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) Act. On Wednesday, a CISF officer received a call about a suspicious car parked inside the CGO complex here, following which he immediately alerted CISF security personnel to trace the car's owner. The vehicle was searched and 52 small pouches containing 550 gram charas were recovered.

Later, they found that the car's owner worked as a consultant with the Ministry of Information Technology, police had said. The car owner, who was the husband of an IAS officer, was held by police and a case was registered against him under the NDPS.

The police sources said the accused contacted the woman officer after her husband was arrested and acted like he wanted to help her. However, during the course of investigation, it was revealed that Singh, along with Chauhan, tried to implicate the bureaucrat's husband.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that he procured the drug from his hometown Aligarh and was in a dilemma for five days whether he should implicate the IAS officer's husband. He also revealed that he had feelings for the IAS officer from past many years and wanted to meet her, the sources said.

Raids are being conducted in Aligarh to know the source of the drug procured by the accused, a senior police officer said. He told police that they followed the car for two days. On Wednesday, Singh and his friend asked a key maker in Lajpat Nagar to open the vehicle and then planted drugs in the car, police added.

Singh sought Chauhan's help and offered to return the favour by arranging treatment for his relative admitted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). After Chauhan agreed to help him, Singh gave him four mobile numbers and asked him to call from a street vendor's phone, and informed the CISF officer about the car and drugs inside the vehicle, the sources said.

Singh's friend took fruit seller's phone on the pretext of making an emergency call and informed the official about the vehicle. Further investigations revealed that the car belonged to Ranjan Pratap Singh, he said.

Singh first tried to mislead police, but later confessed of planting drugs in the car with the help of his lawyer friend, police had said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)