MOHALI: Punjab Police has initiated action against 685 investigating officers (IOs) for shoddy investigations in commercial grade Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) cases which have fallen flat in various courts of the state in the last two years. Speaking to TOI on Tuesday, Director General of Police ( DGP ) Mohammad Mustafa said, “We constituted teams and procured the judgments in which the accused have been acquitted. We found that primarily it was poor or shoddy investigations which led to the acquittal of peddlers arrested for possessing commercial grade heroin. It is purely IO’s negligence.”Mustafa said that to re-strategise the anti-drug drive in the state, 140 proclaimed offenders in commercial quantity cases and 42 in non-commercial quantity were identified for arrest in the past two months. Asked about action taken after identifying 685 acquittals of drug peddlers, Mustafa replied, “Instructions are very clear. Recommendations have been made to take departmental action against such IOs. And, if required, dismissal from service proceedings may be initiated against such IOs.”He said it has also been found that IOs lacked knowledge of filing chargesheets and conducting investigations. The STF has identified 32 commercial quantity cases where default bail was granted under Section 167(2) of CrPC for non-submission of challan within the mandatory 180-day period.“We held training sessions to coach constables and head constables in filing chargesheets. During these sessions, we were surprised to find that 99% of constables and head constables did not know that by just filing an application in court, police can obtain an additional six months (time) to file chargesheet. We will end this tendency of not filing chargesheet within a stipulated time period,” said Mustafa.The officer claimed that the STF has taken several path-breaking initiatives to break the drugs supply. “In the last few months, the STF strategy has been revisited and reframed, bringing about a paradigm shift in its approach. With full cooperation of and coordination with district police, the dynamics of enforcement have been changed. A monthly 22-point proforma encompassing all aspects of enforcement devised for effective supervision of the working of all enforcement units has also been constituted,” he added.“Drug fight is basically fought at police station level as an SHO is fully aware of the nature of people residing under the jurisdiction of his police station. But they falter in performance. Under this program, they will be accountable,” said Mustafa. An action plan has also been prepared, under which SHOs will have to submit a monthly report, giving details of action taken to nab proclaimed offenders, process of attachments of their properties, arresting absconders, bail jumpers, parole jumpers, the DGP added.After the STF identified 685 cases where the accused were acquitted, instructions were issued to district police to get these (cases) legally examined and file appeals where deemed fit in the Punjab and Haryana high court, he said. The STF has identified 277commercial quantity cases and 2,180 non-commercial quantity cases where FSL reports have been received but challan not submitted in courts.Anti-Narcotics Cells In 14 DistsApart from rationalisation and restructuring of STF, its district-level units have been wound up. Now, STF is functioning from range-level and is headed by an AIG-rank officerAnti-Narcotics Cells (ANCs) constituted in 14 districts (where they did not exist), restructured in 13 districts and activated and energised in all the 27 districts. All ANCs brought under the supervisory control of STF. Weekly coordination meetings being held.The personnel posted with STF assessed and screened after individual performance appraisal. Non-performers repatriated to parent units

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