Mumbai, Tuesday 12 May 2009: The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) will today file a chargesheet against arrested IPS officer Saji Mohan and two accomplices for their alleged involvement in narcotics trading, a top police official said on Tuesday.

The chargesheet against Mohan, businessman Vicky Oberoi and police constable Rajesh Kumar Kantharia will be filed in a special NDPS court which is hearing the case, Additional Director General of Police K P Raghuvanshi said.

Mohan, a former zonal director with the Narcotics Control Bureau in Chandigarh, was arrested on January 25 for possessing 12 kilograms of heroin allegedly smuggled from across the border.

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.

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.