4 policemen held for 'stealing' bottles of seized cough syrup in Tripura

Four police personnel, including an inspector and two sub-inspectors, have been arrested for allegedly stealing around 245 bottles of a banned cough syrup consignment, which was seized five days ago, in Tripura's Khowai district, a senior officer said on Monday.

All the accused policemen have been suspended, he said.

Acting on a tip-off, a police team intercepted a car on May 20 in an area under the Teliamura Police Station limits and confiscated the codeine-based cough syrup consignment, he said.

A review of Teliamura Police Station CCTV footage revealed that a portion of the seized bottles was removed in violation of established procedures, he said.

''Preliminary examination of footage shows that approximately 245 bottles (100 ml each) of Eskuf cough syrup were removed without following the guidelines,'' he said, adding that the officer concerned did not account for the full consignment during the seizure process.

Following a complaint by Khowai district Additional SP Justin Joseph, a case has been lodged against an inspector, two sub-inspectors and an assistant sub-inspector, the officer said.

''On the direction of Tripura DGP Anurag, all four police personnel were suspended and arrested in connection with the case registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act,'' he said.

The swift action against the accused reiterates ''zero tolerance for corruption and misappropriation by police personnel'', he said, adding that the matter is being investigated ''impartially and expeditiously''.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)