Five kilos of heroin, a Mahindra Thar, and a voice that once ignited stadiums hit the same police yard in Chandigarh on Monday. The driver, Harbir Singh Sohal, was caught red‑handed when officers pulled his vehicle’s boot open. A count of Rs 1.50 lakh in cash stuck in the rear seat made the find even more jarring.
Truth is, Khanna police cuffed Sohal last week, citing him as one leg of a wider trafficking trail that tracks back to Sydney. The chain began with Akshay Kumar of Ludhiana, who was nabbed with a small stash on March 7. The name that followed—Sohal—snapped onto the frame of a long‑awaited crackdown.
Sources say Sohal was more than a driver; he was the messenger that moved the goods between the towns of Ludhiana, Shimlapuri, and Amritsar. Two other suspects, Vishal and Sanjeev from Shimlapuri, were arrested as fate drew the ties tighter. Their hearings painted a picture of a slick operation, buoyed by “money funnels” set up overseas. Gurjant Singh, a.k.a. Janta of Australia, allegedly steered the funding from afar and was the mastermind behind the drug distribution that trod this route.
Meanwhile, the police cheered a victory. The Khanna force, which has been under watchful eye for months, claimed it knocked out an international narcotics ring that had been shipping heroin and crystal methamphetamine across borders. They recovered more than just the 5 kg of heroin; they found 10 g dice, a brown envelope of cash, and the whispers of a plot that might have seen more high‑profile names fry under the law.
But why a Punjabi singer? In a state where drug use has been rising and the DJ culture is booming, this case strikes a nerve. People who live on the line between fame and blight might be looking for ways to numb the world. Audiences admire the artist; law‑enforcement has found no room for the lesser of evils in the drug trade. The sting pulls open a door that remains stark: how many families, how many careers pale in the glare of international trafficking?
