Punjab cop-turned-drug lord Jagdish Bhola granted bail by high court
The Punjab and Haryana High Court Wednesday granted bail to dismissed Punjab Police deputy superintendent Jagdish Singh Bhola, who has been behind bars since 2013 on charges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
In 2019, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Mohali convicted him in three drug-related cases and sentenced him to a total of 24 years' rigorous imprisonment, with sentences to run concurrently. He was convicted again in 2024 in a money laundering case under the PMLA and handed a 10-year sentence.
A bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel passed the order in a criminal appeal, noting, 'More than half the period of sentence of RI five years and two months have undisputedly been suffered by the appellant.' The court also cited the lack of any possibility of the appeal being heard in the near future as a key reason for the grant of bail.
Bhola, once a celebrated wrestler and recipient of the Arjuna Award, was dismissed from the police force in 2004 after the recovery of poppy husk. Over the years, he has been implicated in multiple high-profile cases of drug trafficking and money laundering. His name surfaced prominently in a Rs 700-crore synthetic drug racket in Punjab, leading to several FIRs against him in Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Mohali.
While granting bail in the present appeal under the NDPS Act, the high court imposed stringent conditions. Bhola is required to furnish a bail bond of Rs 5 lakh along with two sureties of the same amount, both of whom must be local. He must report to the concerned police station once a month and surrender his passport to the trial court. If his passport is unavailable or expired, he must submit an affidavit to that effect before release.
Additionally, the court directed Bhola to undertake community service by planting 100 trees and filing a compliance report within 15 days. Any failure to comply may lead to cancellation of bail, the court warned.
This was Bhola's second bail application on merits in this case. His prolonged incarceration—over 11 years and six months—was a significant factor in the court's decision to allow him bail at this stage.
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