Budhlada, Mansa: An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Punjab Police who was on duty at ITI Chowk in Budhlada, in Punjab's Mansa district, has tested positive in a dope test and been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, police confirmed on Friday, October 30.
Source: The Daily Jagran
The officer has been identified as ASI Sehajpreet Singh. According to The Daily Jagran, he was temporarily deployed at ITI Chowk in Budhlada — a sub-divisional town about 33 kilometres from the Mansa district headquarters — to manage law and order during the ongoing protests in the district. On Friday, local residents found him in an unstable state near ITI Chowk and confronted him, alleging that he was under the influence of drugs. Senior police officials reached the spot and took him into custody. That allegation by residents is reported as their claim; what police have confirmed is set out below.
Mansa Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vaibhav Chaudhary said ASI Sehajpreet Singh is posted in Mohali and was on temporary duty in Mansa, The Times of India reported. The SSP confirmed that the officer's medical dope test came back positive and that a case has been registered against him under Section 27 of the NDPS Act, 1985, at Budhlada City police station. He added that no drug was recovered from the officer's possession.
TV9 Punjabi separately reported scenes of anger at ITI Chowk, where a crowd gathered around the officer and residents staged a protest and blocked the road demanding action. TV9 reported residents' further allegations — including a claim that a substance was found on the officer — and noted that those claims had not received official confirmation. The SSP's confirmation, reported above, covers the positive dope test and the registration of the FIR, and states that nothing was recovered from him.
Source: TV9 Punjabi
The Daily Jagran reported that protesters accused Budhlada Market Committee Chairman Satish Singla of supporting the accused ASI, and that minor damage was caused to Singla's shop during the protest. Singla denied any connection with the officer and called for strict punishment against him, the report said. Those accusations against Singla are the protesters' allegations, which he has denied.
The incident has drawn sharp attention because it comes in the middle of the state police's anti-drug campaign, 'Yudh Nashian Virudh', and alongside a continuing crackdown in Mansa after the October 13 killing of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota, over which protests have been running in the district. A police officer posted to keep order at those protests now himself faces an NDPS case, a development residents at the spot described as a blow to the credibility of the anti-drug drive — that is their stated view, reported here as such.
What happens next: the case under NDPS Section 27 — which covers consumption of a narcotic drug or psychotropic substance — will proceed at Budhlada City police station. No announcement of suspension or departmental action against the ASI had been reported by the two sources at the time of publication; this story will be updated if police announce further action.
Sources: The Daily Jagran (October 30, 2026), reporting Mansa SSP Vaibhav Chaudhary's confirmation via The Times of India; TV9 Punjabi (October 30, 2026).