BATHINDA: Following an enquiry by the special task force (STF) formed to deal with drug cases, Moga police have booked four cops, including an inspector, for allegedly stealing 300kg poppy husk kept as case evidence and replacing the drug with cattle feed.The cops had siphoned off the drug from 525kg of poppy husk seized in May 2017. It has been alleged that the accused cops — inspector Gurpyar Singh, head constables Resham Singh and Lal Singh, and constable Gurdeep Singh — had committed the crime when they were posted at Badhni Kalan police station in Moga in May last year. Inspector Gurpyar Singh was the SHO at the time.The case was registered at Badhni Kalan police station on Sunday night. The accused have been charged with fraud. STF assistant inspector general (AIG) Sanehdeep Sharma carried out the probe in which the four cops were indicted.Nihal Singh Wala DSP Subeg Singh told TOI that the STF had received a complaint that the cops had mixed cattle feed in the seized contraband, took out 300kg of the drug from it, and then sold it further. The AIG carried out the enquiry after the complaint.A resident of Rania village in Moga, Surjit Singh, was the complainant. “We are looking at where the four cops have been posted. We will try to arrest them at the earliest,” said the DSP.The accused have been charged with sections 218 (public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save person from punishment) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 59 (failure of officer in duty or his connivance) of the NDPS Act, and Section 13 (1)(c) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (if a public servant dishonestly or fraudulently misappropriates or otherwise converts for his own use any property entrusted to him).

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