Bhola drug case: ED attaches properties of ex-Akali minister, former MLA, 11 others

Sarwan Singh Phillaur was the Jails Minister in the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government.

Chandigarh: The Enforcement Directorate on Monday attached properties worth Rs 61.62 crore belonging to 13 people in the multi-crore drug racket case.

The attached properties include showrooms, agricultural land, residential houses, assets of businesses, firms, fixed deposit receipts (FDR) and seven luxury cars.

The agency ordered provisional attachment of immovable property worth Rs 14.75 lakh of former Akali minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur. He was the Jails Minister in the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government.

Also, immovable property of his son Damanvir Singh Phillaur, worth Rs 4.72 crore, was also attached by the ED.

Notably, Phillaur had resigned as tourism and jails minister in April 2014 after his son Damanvir Singh’s name cropped up in the Bhola drug case.

Apart from the father-son duo, the agency attached the property of former Akali MLA and Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Avinash Chander to the tune of Rs 55.45 lakh.

"ED Jalandhar zone is investigating drug racket case of Jagdish Bhola and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002. Investigation revealed that proceeds of crime derived from cash-rich drug business has been laundered in movable and immovable properties. The ED has issued provisional attachment order on March 31 for attaching movable/immovable properties worth Rs 61,61,88,590," it said.

The order also included the attached property of Amritsar-based businessmen Jagjit Singh Chahal, Paramjit Singh Chahal and Inderjit Kaur (business concerns and immovable properties worth Rs 54.59 crore).

Besides, the properties of Una-based businessman Devinder Kant Sharma (worth Rs 5.64 lakh), Canadian NRIs Sukhraj Singh and Jaswinder Singh (Rs 16.65 lakh), Canadian NRI Avtar Singh and his family (Rs 51.10 lakh), Delhi-based businessman Sachin Sardana (Rs 74.65 lakh), Patiala resident Harpreet Singh (Rs 42.45 lakh) and Goraya-based businessman Chunni Lal Gaba and his family (Rs 17.12 lakh) have been attached.

The ED has earlier attached the assets worth over Rs 34 crore and prosecution complaints have already been filed against 48 people and companies.

The ED has been probing an international drug racket, which was unearthed with the arrest of an NRI, Anoop Singh Kahlon, by the Fatehgarh Sahib Police in March 2013.

Further probe in the case had led to the arrest of alleged kingpin Jagdish Bhola, a dismissed DSP of Punjab Police.

(With Agency inputs)