Fake drugs case: FIR against all 25 cops of UP thana

BUDAUN: An FIR has been registered against all 25 police personnel, including SHO and members of Special Operations Group , posted at Binawar police station here for allegedly framing five men in a fake narcotics case and detaining them illegally in July 2024. The court order to file the FIR followed a plea that said Mohd Mukhtyar, Bilal, Ajit, Ashraf and Tarnveer were arrested on July 28 last year. "They were detained for two days before being falsely shown as arrested with opium under NDPS Act. All five were sent to jail and remained in custody for a month," their advocate said.

Their advocate Mohammad Tasleem Gazi said, "We filed an application under BNSS section 175 in the court of CJM Budaun Mohd Tauseef Raza. We submitted CCTV footage showing that the accused were picked up from their homes on July 27. But the general diary mentioned July 30 as the arrest date, and the FIR was registered on July 31 under NDPS sections. The cops confined my clients illegally in the thana." The CJM also directed a probe.

In a similar incident in Agra, a local court in June 2023 acquitted Ankit Gupta, a 37-year-old salesman who had been falsely accused of possessing 74.9 kg of marijuana. He was arrested in 2021, and spent eight months in jail before being granted bail. Gupta had told TOI that police had demanded a bribe and fabricated the case when he refused.