Sacked IPS officer gets 15 years jail in 2009 drug case

Mumbai: A special court on Monday sentenced dismissed IPS officer of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre, Saji Mohan to 15 years rigorous imprisonment in a drug peddling case of 2009, officials said.

The son of a retired army officer and a veterinary doctor-turned-IPS officer of 1995 batch, he had served for a decade in strife-torn Jammu & Kashmir, was awarded a President's Medal and sent on a United Nations assignment for two years.

Besides Mohan, his Haryana Police bodyguard-cum-driver Rajeshkumar Kataria has been given a 10 year sentence, while another co-accused Vicky Oberoi has been acquitted, Special Public Prosecutor Avdhut Chimalkar told media persons.

Mohan was nabbed by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad on January 17, 2009 with several packets containing 37 kgs of narcotics, including 12 kgs heroin, valued at over Rs 1 billion in the international market.

Kataria and Oberoi had been earlier arrested from Jogeshwari west by the ATS and 1.8 kg heroin seized from them.