Drug peddler sentenced to death in Punjab

 

Punjab-based drug peddler was today awarded death penalty by a special Narcotics court here for smuggling heroin five years ago. Special Judge (Narcotic Drugs and Physchotropic Substances Act) Shalini Singh Nagpal awarded death sentence to Balwinder Singh (40) and sentenced his accomplice Satnam Singh to 12 years rigorous imprisonment. This is the second instance this year that the court here awarded death sentence in the NDPS case. "Balwinder had escaped the Narcotics Control Bureau trap in 2005 when he and his associate Satnam Singh were intercepted with four kilograms of Heroin in Sector-24 of Chandigarh. "He was later arrested in February 2007 by Punjab police for trafficking two kilograms of heroin, a case which was taken over by the NCB," NCB Special Public Prosecutor Kailash Chander told PTI. While Balwinder was awarded a death sentence today, Satnam was awarded 12-years RI with a fine of Rs 1.5 lakh. Balwinder's repeat conviction in case of drug trafficking led to the awarding of death penalty under the provisions of the NDPS Act, he said. Balwinder was sentenced under section 31(A) of the NDPS Act which provides death sentence for certain drug offences on second conviction. The same NDPS court had earlier awarded death sentence to Paramjeet Singh for trafficking 10 kilograms of Heroin and supplying it to an African national, making it possibly the first case of capital punishment in a case of drug crime. The Special Public Prosecutor had told the court that Balwinder was a habitual offender and sought capital punishment from the court. The defence, however, had maintained that Balwinder was not a habitual offender and they had already challenged his previous conviction and sentence term in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.