§ 1. Colonel DAYasked the Undersecretary for India if he can state if there are at present any cocaine dens in the northern division of Calcutta, and the name of the deputy commissioner in charge of this division; and how long has he occupied that position?
§ The UNDERSECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Earl Winterton)Some information as to the illicit traffic in cocaine and the preventive action taken is given in the Report of the Bengal Excise Department, extracts from which I shall be glad to have supplied to the hon. Member should he wish. The Reports do not contain the specific information asked for in the first part of the question, but special inquiry can be made if he so desires. The Deputy-Commissioner of Police, Northern District, Calcutta, is Rai Purna Chandra Lahiri Bahadur, who was appointed on 6th March, 1918.
§ Colonel DAYIs it not a fact that an inquiry has been held as regards the complicity of police officers in this traffic, and will not the Noble Lord place the Report before the House?
§ Earl WINTERTONI do not very much like the term "complicity" as applied to police officers in connection with this traffic. No inquiry was held into the complicity of these officers and no one has made such a monstrous charge until the hon. and gallant Member men- 940 tioned it in his question. There was an inquiry into certain irregularities which are said to have occurred in connection with entries made in the charge book by the police, but on inquiry it was found that there was no foundation whatever for the accusation of wilful misconduct by the police.