NCP state cabinet minister Nawab Malik on 22nd November asked the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to target drug traffickers instead of seeking publicity by arresting consumers of drugs for possession of very small quantities. “My attention has been drawn to the arrest of comedian Bharti Singh and her husband, Harsh. “In my opinion, since they have admitted to possession of a small quantity of cannabis, the NCB must send them to a rehabilitation centre instead of jail,” Malik said.
He explained that in the recent past, the NCB had been targeting people from the film industry to probably garner publicity. Malik wondered whether the central agency was in this way protecting the drug traffickers.