Ex-MLA Kataria gets clean chit in drugs case

Kulwinder Sandhu

Tribune News Service

Moga, February 13

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has set aside the order of the District and Sessions court of Moga in which turncoat Akali leader and former Congress MLA Naresh Kataria was summoned on October 16 to face trial in a case of drug smuggling.

Justice Inderjit Singh of the HC observed that the order of trial court was illegal and not as per law.

The then Additional District and Sessions judge, Manju Rana, who was later dismissed, had summoned the Kataraia to face trial in a 4-year old case of drug smuggling in had been given a clean chit by the police.

Sources said the Moga police had recovered 11 bags of poppy husk from a Scorpio allegedly owned by Kataria on June 4, 2011 and an FIR was registered under various sections of the NDPS Act in Ajitwal police station. Sukhdev Singh alias Sukha, resident of Sherpur Takhtuwala village, was driving the vehicle and was arrested on the spot by the police.

Kataria maintained that the SUV had been sold by him to Tarsem Lal, therefore, he was not involved in the case.

The facts were brought into the notice of the HC that Tarsem Lal had applied for the transfer of the vehicle registration many days before this incident. The transfer fee was deposited by Lal on April 6, 2011.

Keeping in view of these facts, the HC observed, “It cannot be held that Kataria has fraudulently sold the vehicle after the recovery nor there is anything on record that he intentionally gave the vehicle for use of transportation of poppy husk. The FIR is of a later date, i.e. June 4, 2011. The change of RC in the name of Tarsem Lal was already applied much earlier to the FIR”. Therefore, the order of the trial court was illegal and not as per law.”

It may be mentioned that Kataria was elected as MLA from Zira constituency on the Congress ticket in 2007 but lost to senior Akali leader Hari Singh Zira in the 2012 Assembly elections.

After forming the government for the second consecutive term, the ruling Akali Dal started a move to attract the Congress leaders. On May 30, 2012, Kataria joined the SAD following which, he was given a clean chit by the local police.