Bhubaneswar: The arrest of one Uzir Khan of Odisha in neighbouring Chhattisgarh while transporting ganja might not have hit the headlines in the state, but it has once again shone the light on the apparently curious relationship he enjoys with a police official back home.
Chhattisgarh police arrested Khan along with two others with ganja weighing 27 kgs in the Mahasamund police station area April 23.
The arrest came around the time when information gleaned under the Right to Information Act (RTI) revealed that Khan and one Naveen Kumar Agarwal — both petty businessmen who allegedly have criminal records — would more often than not be the go-to men for Srikant Kumar Tripathy, IIC at the Sonepur police station, when witnesses were required for narcotics bust cases.
The information secured by human rights activist Shrikumar Mohant says that 48 cases were registered under the NDPS Act with the Tarabha Police station when Tripathy was inspector in-charge from March 23, 2014 to November 1, 2017.
Agarwal and Uzir Khan were witnesses in almost 70 per cent of these cases. The duo were taken as witnesses for narcotic confiscation even 15/20 kilometres away from Tarabha town. The two were well known in the Tarabha area for their alleged proximity to Tripathy. Recently an undertrial prisoner being held at the Sonepur sub jail for ganja smuggling made startling revelations about Tripathy during a recorded conversation. He alleged that Tripathy had taken around Rs 2 lakh from him when he sought his help to get him out of the case and be released.
In the conversation, he also claimed that police officials had recorded only a small amount of the ganja seized. He claimed that the police had seized around 120 kg ganja but showed only 80 kg in official records.
The allegation has raised questions on where the remaining ganja was and who the police had engaged to weigh it. Here, again, the name of Agarwal surfaces as it is said that Tripathy often engaged him to weigh the seizures as he has the scales.
“We want a detailed probe into the allegations of graft levelled by the undertrial (against Tripathy) and the RTI information about Uzir Khan and his arrest by Chhattisgarh police while carrying ganja,” said Shrikumar Mohant.
Speaking to Orissa POST, DIG of Northern Range Satyabrata Bhoi said, “We have received a complaint about this and we have sought more documents. After receiving all the documents we will take action in the matter.”
“It is true that Uzir Khan was held with the ganja but his complicity in the trade is yet to be proved. In case, it is proved we will take action,” he added.
Earlier, Tripathy was found guilty of negligence that let a murder accused go scot free. The additional district sessions judge, Pratima Panda, asked the police to take disciplinary action against Tripathy in 2016 also.
He was also accused of torturing a vehicle mechanic in 2017. A case in this regard is pending with the National Human Rights Commission. Another human rights activist, Jayant Kumar Das of Puri, had even brought the matter to the notice of the Prime Minister’s office.
So far, no investigation in the true sense has been conducted into allegations against Tripathy. The action — or inaction as many choose to put it – has led to the question whether Tripathy enjoyed the blessings of his higher-ups to evade punishment for his alleged acts of omission and commission.
Of a curious relationship and ‘missing’ ganja
