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FROM
THE EDITOR IN CHIEF
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Chakravarty tapping his police contacts |
For
the past week, Delhi has been gripped by a blend of nervous anxiety and
socialite curiosity. It all started with the arrest of one Naqibullah,
alias Ali, for peddling cocaine. In the course of investigating this story,
we secured exclusive access to Ali's confessions to the police. Out of
these popped the names of some of Delhi's beautiful people, with graphic
details of their drug habits.
For us this explosive information posed a ticklish
dilemma. Could we rely on the word of an alleged drug pusher, without
any other supporting evidence, publish the names and possibly tarnish
reputations? Yet the information provided an insight into the pervasiveness
and the casualness with which the drug is being consumed. We, therefore,
decided to change the names but
carry the description of the dealings as narrated by a drug dealer. However,
we have published the names of the people who were
in contact with Ali on the cell phone because these are on record. The
phone calls don't constitute a crime but the police will be asking them
for details of their links with Ali.
All this commendable sleuthing has been done
by Special Correspondent Sayantan Chakravarty who tapped his wide contacts
in the police and intelligence services to write a comprehensive report
on this particular case as well as the wider cocaine network. We have
put it on cover not, I must add, because of the "glamour" of
the crime. Drugs are a bit more than a party high. In many countries they
have become a complete menace to society as they breed crime, corruption
and decay.
By all accounts, drug abuse in India has reached
worrying proportions. Hopefully this shocking expose and its consequences
will have a sobering effect on a section of high society that ought to
know better.
(Aroon
Purie)
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METRO TODAY
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