12th-Class Boy Abducted From Bus, Framed With 2.7 KG Opium: Madhya Pradesh Police Exposed After CCTV Footage Reaches High Court

A shocking case from Madhya Pradesh has exposed serious misconduct within the Malhargarh police station, which was recently ranked among India’s top 10 police stations. The Madhya Pradesh High Court has now uncovered that its own officers abducted an innocent Class 12 student and falsely implicated him in a narcotics case.

On August 28, Sohanlal, a 12th-grade student from Jodhpur, Rajasthan, had travelled to Mandsaur to visit the Pashupatinath Temple. While he was seated in a bus, a Scorpio overtook and stopped the vehicle. Three youths forcibly pulled him out and took him away in the SUV. Two days later, on August 30, the Malhargarh police sent him to jail, alleging he was caught with 2.7 kg of opium.

Suspicious about the police version, Sohanlal’s family traced the bus he had travelled in and accessed its CCTV footage. The footage revealed the truth: Sohanlal had been kidnapped from the bus, contradicting the arrest narrative. His father took the evidence to the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

On December 5, the High Court acquitted Sohanlal and issued a strong reprimand to the police. Mandsaur SP Vinod Meena was summoned to court, and six Malhargarh police personnel — station in-charge Rajendra Panwar, Sub-Inspector Sanjay Pratap Singh, Sadik Mansoori, and constables Narendra, Jitendra, and Dilip — were suspended.

According to Sohanlal, the policemen demanded Rs 12 lakh from him, and when he refused, they jailed him on fabricated charges.

In court, SP Meena admitted that Sohanlal was indeed picked up from the bus by his officers, and that the FIR’s claimed arrest time and location did not match the CCTV evidence. He confirmed that the men seen dragging Sohanlal were police personnel, contradicting earlier administrative claims. The High Court was informed that the student was held in illegal custody and that the investigation violated legal procedures.

Legal experts expect strong action once the High Court delivers its final order. Senior advocate Himanshu Thakur stated that the court acknowledged the illegal abduction and fake seizure, noting that Sohanlal is a bright student who passed Class 12 in first division.

This incident has severely embarrassed the Malhargarh police station, which had been nationally ranked ninth among India’s best police stations just last month.