The family of a BSF constable belonging to Jammu’s R S Pura Sector who died while in custody of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) a month ago says they are yet to receive any answers to questions regarding his death.
Jaswinder Singh, 30, was on leave from his posting in Tripura when he was picked up on March 3 from Miran Sahib town while returning home to Diwangarh village near the international border with Pakistan. He died on March 20, while still in custody.
While Jaswinder’s mother and wife allege he was falsely implicated in the case, dating back to 2024, and tortured in custody, the NCB says he died of “cardiac events” while under arrest. The postmortem report as well as the result of a magisterial inquiry into the death are awaited.
The Miran Sahib Police Station, from whose jurisdiction the constable was arrested, has booked a case of “abduction” in the matter, on the complaint of Jaswinder’s mother Gurmeet Kaur, with officers saying the NCB kept them in the dark on the arrest.
Three other people arrested in the same case, including Jaswinder’s brother Pupinder Singh, were incidentally discharged by the Principal Sessions Judge, Samba, on March 7, which said that a lab report had not found heroin in the seized material.
The PDP as well as the Akal Takht have raised questions regarding Jaswinder’s death, with acting Jathedar Giani Kuldip Singh Gargajj also visiting his family. While speaking to the media, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti supported the family’s demand for a CBI probe into the death. “An allegation of drug-related offences does not mean that someone should be tortured to death,’’ she had told media persons at a party function in Kathua. “Earlier, a man named Pervez Ahmad was killed [last July] in Jammu’s Nikki Tawi area after being accused of drug peddling. This is wrong and shouldn’t happen.”
Jaswinder was with Gurmeet when he was picked up on March 3, with the two returning from Jammu, where the 60-year-old had gone for a medical check-up.
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Following his death on March 20, the NCB issued a statement on March 23 saying that on March 19, Jaswinder was taken to Amritsar for further investigation but had developed chest pain and was admitted to a private hospital. “He suffered two cardiac events and died on the morning of March 20 in the hospital.”
An officer, who declined to be named, at the Miran Sahib Police Station said notices have been issued twice seeking the NCB’s response but have gone unanswered. “Though the Monday deadline mentioned in the second notice also expired on April 13, no one from the NCB has come to the police station to explain their position so far,” he said. He added: “As per procedure, the NCB should have informed the local police station about Singh’s detention.”
An NCB official confirmed the police summonses. “We have followed all the legal procedures while apprehending Jaswinder Singh, and we will inform them, accordingly, when we visit the police station,” he added.
As per the NCB, the case in which Jaswinder was arrested goes back to December 24, 2024, when it seized 989 grams of heroin – “a commercial quantity”, attracting NDPS charges – from Anuj Kumar of Ramgarh and Vikram Singh of Diwangarh. Based reportedly on the statement of one of the accused, Pupinder alias Bhupinder was arrested on April 3, 2025. The NCB points out that Pupinder is a history-sheeter with six FIRs under the NDPS Act, including in Punjab.
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Jaswiner was arrested in the case based on “technical analysis” allegedly showing he was in contact with smugglers in Pakistan, Punjab, and Jammu & Kashmir, the NCB said. It also says that on March 12, while in custody, Jaswinder was booked in another case of possession of “commercial” quantity of tramadol and his custody extended.
In its statement, the NCB also said it had followed the procedure required in a custodial death, including inquest proceedings by a judicial magistrate, a magisterial inquiry, post-mortem examination, and intimation to the NHRC. The NCB has so far declined to comment on the status of these reports.
On Jaswinder’s family raising claims of him having been taken to Amritsar for investigation, asking why a transit remand was not obtained, NCB sources said this was not required “since the bureau had already mentioned his links in Punjab while seeking custodial remand”.
In its order of March 7 discharging Pupinder and two other accused, the Principal Sessions Judge, Samba, said: “… prima facie there is no sufficient material against the accused persons for commission of offence (under) NDPS Act”. The court cited a report by the Central Revenues Control Laboratory, which found that the seized samples did not contain heroin.
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Their five-year-old son beside her, Jaswinder’s wife Lovejeet Kaur, 25, says: “He was innocent… The NCB has destroyed my world. How will I survive now?”
