SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Police have allegedly uncovered a plot by a jilted lover to frame his former girlfriend’s husband in a drug case by sending a courier containing narcotics to his home in Safapora, Ganderbal, NDTV reported, citing police officials.
The poultry farmer, who had married only a few months earlier, was initially arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act after police intercepted a courier containing cocaine, charas and diclofenac tablets at his home. The investigation later took an unexpected turn when police found that he may have been deliberately set up.
The case came to light after police received information that a drug consignment was being delivered to the poultry farmer. A police team intercepted the shipment and seized the contents, leading to his arrest.
During questioning, however, investigators found that the farmer had received calls and messages from a Saudi Arabia-based phone number concerning the shipment.
The farmer reportedly told police that he had previously received a call from the same number warning him against marrying the woman whom he eventually married.
“It was a turning point in our investigations. We questioned the woman who helped us to reach the culprit and how the plot was orchestrated,” an officer told NDTV.
The investigation subsequently led police to the farmer’s wife, whose call detail records reportedly showed that she had remained in contact with her former lover even after her marriage.
According to police, examination of the call records helped investigators uncover the alleged conspiracy and identify the former lover as the suspected mastermind.
An officer told NDTV that the man allegedly confessed to asking a friend in Kanpur to send a shipment so that his former girlfriend’s husband could be implicated in a false drug case.
“He has confessed that it was he who asked his friend in Kanpur to send a shipment so that the husband of his girlfriend is implicated in a false drug case,” the officer said.
Police believe the associate has since fled to Saudi Arabia and suspect that the Saudi number used in the case belonged to him.
Investigators suspect that the alleged mastermind first sent the package to Kanpur and then asked his associate to dispatch it to Safapora in Ganderbal.
Police believe the poultry farmer was tricked into accepting the parcel after being told that it contained poultry-feed samples.
“It appears that he may have sent a shipment to Kanpur first then asked his friend to dispatch the same to Safapora in Ganderbal district. Charas recovered from shipment is clearly local. It’s not clear if the associate knew that the packet contained drugs,” an officer told NDTV.
Police are investigating whether the associate was aware that the parcel contained narcotics.
The case assumes significance amid an intensified crackdown on drugs in Kashmir, where people arrested under the NDPS Act are often subjected to further action, including detention under the Public Safety Act. Authorities have also demolished houses and other properties allegedly linked to drug peddling in several cases.
Against this backdrop, investigators initially suspected that the poultry farmer himself could be involved in drug trafficking or part of a wider interstate drug network.
The alleged conspiracy, however, appears to have been designed to make him face serious legal consequences by sending narcotics to his home disguised as poultry-feed samples.
“It was not an easy case. The plot was so carefully orchestrated. Initially, we were convinced that poultryman was a drug peddler and may well be the part of a larger interstate drug cartel. The accused managed to dispatch a courier from Kanpur containing narcotics disguised as poultry-feed samples to the poultry farmer. It was sheer luck and some professional investigation that the case took a turn,” an officer told NDTV.
Police are continuing to investigate the alleged conspiracy and are trying to establish the precise role of the associate, including whether he knew that the package contained narcotics.
