Villagers unmask fake de-addiction den near Ludhiana; three operators held.

Ludhiana: Police have raided a clandestine drug rehabilitation facility operating out of a village shed, arresting three men for allegedly running an unlicensed operation that charged vulnerable families premium rates while allowing inmates to use drugs in public.The operation in Kutbeawal village, off Humbran Road, was exposed after community leaders complained that patients routinely escaped the facility at night to consume narcotics in the open. The arrested suspects are Harwinder Singh of Kutbeawal Gujjran, Amandeep Singh of Shimlapuri, and Damanpreet Singh of Kumbra in Mohali district.Acting on an input from the village panchayat, a Ladhowal police team raided the shed and found 20 men confined inside. While 14 inmates fled during the commotion of the raid, police located and detained six for questioning.“The operators had no proper arrangements or infrastructure to house the inmates,” said assistant sub-inspector Major Singh, the case investigator. “Yet, they were charging families between ₹10,000 and ₹15,000 every month for each patient.”When questioned, the facility owners failed to produce any regulatory registration, medical licences, or govt permits to operate a healthcare centre. The suspects claimed they were merely providing addicts with accommodation and escorting them to the govt-run Ludhiana civil hospital for actual medical treatment.Police have registered a first-information report (FIR) against the three operators under Sections 318(4) (cheating) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The six recovered inmates have been released to their families or transferred to legitimate facilities, while an investigation into the centre’s financial records continues.