Cops deny link between Vijender Singh and drug haul

Chandigarh: Initial probe into the recovery of 26 kg of heroin worth Rs 130 crore from an NRI`s house in Zirakpur has not suggested any link with boxer Vijender Singh, whose car was recovered at some distance from the accused`s house, police said today.

"We just recovered Vijender`s car at some distance from the arrested NRI`s house and there is nothing much after the initial probe to tell," Fathegarh Sahib SSP Hardyal Singh Mann told PTI over phone here today. "In the initial probe there has been nothing to tell. Besides, it appears there is no link of the boxer with the person from whose house the heroin was seized," he said. He, however, said that "if needed we may call Vijender for questioning. But at present there is nothing in connection with Vijender," he added. Punjab police had recovered 26 kg of heroin from NRI Anoop Singh Kahlon`s house in `Savastik Vihar` in Zirakpur, on the outskirts of the city in Mohali district yesterday. During interrogation, the arrested NRI had alleged that two boxers Vijender Singh and Ram Singh were his "clients" and used to visit him. However, Vijender, an international boxer, has denied that he knew the alleged drug peddler. "I am shocked. I am in Mumbai right now for work. My friends dropped me at the airport in my wife`s car. I don`t know how it reached outside that Zirakpur flat," Vijender, an Asian Games gold-medallist, told PTI over phone. "My friends could have used that car after dropping me but I don`t understand how can my name be dragged into this. The police has already clarified that nothing was recovered from the car. And they have not even contacted me," he said. Canada-based international drug peddler Anoop Singh Kahlon, who along with Kulwinder Singh alias Rockey of Nawanshahar Badala village in Kharar of Mohali, was arrested from Zirakpur in Mohali by Fatehgarh Sahib police. One of the two cars parked found at some distance outside Kahlon`s house was that of Vijender`s wife Archana, Mann said, adding that Archana would not be summoned for investigations. While Vijender Singh is presently serving DSP in Haryana police, Ram Singh, a Punjab police officer, is training at the NIS in Patiala, ahead of an international championship. PTI