The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday launched a raid at the home of a suspended Uttar Pradesh police constable who was arrested for smuggling cough syrup on an inter-state level. What gained significant attention, though, are images of the huge bungalow of the cop at Sushant Golf City, which is considered to be Lucknow’s elite locality.
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The property is of Alok Pratap Singh, a police constable who is now under arrest in connection with the smuggling of cough syrups that are codeine-based. Netizens were aghast at the size of the house, wondering how a police constable who takes home a monthly salary of ₹40,000 in hand could buy such a house.
The video went viral on social media. The reactions on X, varied from shock to witty sayings, with a netizen asking, "Police constable ka itna bada ghar?" while another said, "Agle janam me mujhe constable hi banana prabhu."
Nationwide ED raids
As per a report by Times Now, the ED's move is a follow-through on Singh's failure to appear before the agency on December 8, following a previous notice. In relation to the ongoing probe, the ED's teams conducted searches in different parts of India, such as Lucknow, Varanasi, Jaunpur, Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Ranchi in Jharkhand, and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
Codeine Syrup trafficking under investigation
On receipt of several complaints, the government of Uttar Pradesh has formed a special investigation team (SIT), which would look into the matter of illegal sale, storage, and trafficking of codeine cough syrups. This SIT, which has been formed to look into cases that are multidistrict and multi-departmental, has been headed by L.R. Kumar, who is the Inspector General of Police (Law & Order).
It is comprised of Senior Superintendent of Police (STF) Sushil Ghule Chandrabhanu and Akhilesh Kumar Jain, who is the Assistant Commissioner of the Food Safety & Drug Administration Department.
Already, a number of FIRs have been registered in various districts of Uttar Pradesh. The SIT plans to identify the organised gangs that are alleged to trade codeine syrup for purposes of making a profit and suppress the illegal trade that occurs in the state.
