CHANDIGARH, March 23: Notorious gangster-cum-drug lord Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, who is also an accused in the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, was detained under the stringent anti-narcotics law on Sunday and shifted to a jail in Assam from Punjab, the NCB said.
The gangster has been detained under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) Act, the central agency said.
Bhagwanpuria, lodged in a prison in Punjab’s Bathinda, was transported to the Central Jail in Silchar, Assam, by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in cooperation with the Punjab Police.
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The NCB officials took custody of the gangster, who was in the custody of the Punjab Police in connection with the Moosewala murder case, and took him on a connecting flight from Chandigarh to Silchar via Delhi and Kolkata.
Jagdeep Singh alias Jaggu Bhagwanpuria is a native of Punjab’s Gurdaspur district and is being probed in 128 criminal cases, including high-profile murder cases which are related to extortion, Arms Act and a dozen complaints filed under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act since 2012, according to the NCB.
“He is involved in 128 cases, including high-profile murder cases, extortion, Arms Act and 12 cases under the NDPS Act, since 2012. Jaggu Bhagwanpuria is also an accused in Sidhu Moosewala’s murder case. His criminal network facilitated the smuggling of heroin, opium, psychotropic substances and illegal arms,” the NCB said in a statement.
Bhagwanpuria has repeatedly used mobile phones to orchestrate criminal activities from within Punjab’s high-security jails “as evidenced by multiple cases”, the statement added.
The NCB said that Bhagwanpuria was detained and moved out of Punjab as he had “established linkages” with international operatives in Canada, the US and Pakistan.
His relocation was required to disrupt the ecosystem facilitating continued criminal activities, it said.
The PIT-NDPS Act of 1988 provides for the “detention of persons concerned in any manner with illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for one or two year(s) with a view to preventing them from engaging in such harmful and prejudicial activities”.
Criminals like Balwinder Singh alias Billa Havellian, Akshay Chhabra and Jaspal Singh alias Goldy, who continued their nefarious activities despite being behind bars, were also transferred from jails in Punjab to the central jail in Assam’s Dibrugarh over the last six months.
Havellian, who is a long-standing offender active since 1992 with deep-rooted connections to cross border smuggling networks operating from Pakistan, was detained under the PIT-NDPS Act in Dibrugarh Central Jail (Assam) on August 12, 2024.
The actions were executed following detailed intelligence inputs and sustained investigations that revealed the continued involvement of several high-profile traffickers in orchestrating drug trafficking networks from jail, it said.
The provision of preventive detention, as per the NCB, are issued with the objective of disrupting operational command structures, severing jail-based criminal networks and insulating prison environments from further exploitation by organised crime syndicates.
The preventive detention of high-profile drug offenders by the NCB under the PIT-NDPS Act, 1988, is a pivotal step towards dismantling jail-based narcotics syndicates and upholding the vision of a “Nasha Mukt Bharat”, it said.
This decisive action underscores the government’s proactive and uncompromising approach to curbing organized drug crime in India. (PTI)
