Three years after a Nigerian man, simply identified as Harrison was allegedly illegally detained from Delhi’s Dabri, an FIR (First Information Report) has been filed against 2011-batch IPS (Indian Police Service) IPS Officer Shankar Choudhary, said to have carried out the illegality.

Choudhary was posted with the Mizoram Police, in connection with the case.

As per the FIR filed by the Delhi Police Vigilance Unit on Thursday, following an enquiry, Choudhary allegedly misused his official authority and illegally detained the Nigerian national without following legal procedure. It also claimed he carried out an inter-state police operation without informing authorities or seeking prior approval.

The Indian Express, an authoritative Indian newspaper, reached out to Choudhary via text messages seeking comment. A response is awaited.

The FIR was filed under IPC sections 166 (public servant disobeying law, with intent to cause injury to any person), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) and 409 (criminal breach of trust committed by any public servant).

The case relates to two FIRs registered in Mizoram in 2023, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, involving an inter-state drug smuggling racket.

As per The Indian Express report in 2023, the Mizoram police had arrested some Myanmar nationals and recovered Methamphetamine (Crystal Meth) from their possession. Then DG (Mizoram) Anil Shukla had said, “In October, we had recovered Methamphetamine drugs worth around Rs 75 crore and arrested four persons. During their questioning and further investigation, we found the transit distribution point of the drugs was in Delhi. We sent our team to the national capital where we arrested two Myanmar nationals. They were produced before the court concerned and taken on transit remand to Mizoram… It’s an international racket and our probe is on.”

He had also said “we have not arrested and detained any Nigerian national. We are not aware of anything about him”.

In the fourth week of November 2023, a team of Mizoram Police’s Anti-Narcotics Task Force, headed by a UT-cadre IPS officer, had come to Delhi and asked the Dwarka district police to assist them in nabbing some alleged persons involved in peddling drugs. “Several raids were conducted and during one of them, it appears they allegedly picked up a Nigerian national from outside a private nursing home in Dabri on November 26,” a senior Delhi Police officer had said at the time the incident was reported.

As per the vigilance FIR, a PCR call was received from a woman in Nigeria, on November 29, 2023, claiming that her brother had been arrested by the Mizoram Police. She alleged that Rs 35 lakh was taken for his release, with a further demand of Rs 20 lakh being made. The woman allegedly named Choudhary as the officer involved in the detention and extortion.

On July 22 last year, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had asked the Delhi Police to look into the allegations against Choudhary. The Delhi Police Commissioner then appointed an enquiry officer to ascertain the facts.

As per the FIR, on November 26, 2023, Choudhary and Delhi Police staff entered the residence of the Nigerian man, Harrison, at 3.34 am. The team left at 5.40 am, taking a locker and two bags. The seized items were not recorded in police records of either Delhi or Mizoram Police, the FIR claimed.

It also said CCTV footage showed Harrison was taken from his residence by Choudhary’s team. He was then kept at Mizoram House from November 26 to 29. There was no arrest memo, court production, or legal order during this period, the FIR claimed.

Statements from Delhi Police staff confirmed Harrison was escorted allegedly under Choudhary’s instructions. Statements of various officials, including 13 Delhi Police officers who were directly or indirectly involved in the raid, were recorded, the FIR claimed.

As per the findings of the enquiry, Choudhary stayed in Delhi after his approved leave ended on November 20, 2023. “Between November 21 and 29, he personally led raids in the Dabri-Bindapur area without any legal permission. Statements from Delhi Police staff confirm that the raids were conducted under his direct supervision. Mizoram Police records clearly say that Choudhary decided on his own to stay back in Delhi and conduct operations, without approval from any authority,” the FIR claimed.

There was no written or formal communication between Mizoram Police and Delhi Police allowing these raids. No official diary entry, written order, or wireless message exists in Delhi Police records to authorize these actions, the FIR claimed.

Apart from this, the FIR stated, two head constables, though officially posted elsewhere, acted as Choudhary’s driver and assistant without written orders. Their involvement was beyond their official duties and amounted to serious misconduct for which departmental enquiry would be conducted, it said.

-Reported by The Indian Express