PATIALA: Money-laundering charges will be framed against two former Shiromani Akali Dal leaders – Sarwan Singh
Phillaur and Avinash
Chander – in the infamous multi-crore synthetic drug racket allegedly being run by wrestler-turned-cop-turned-drug-kingpin Jagdish Bhola. Phillaur’s son Damanvir will also charged in the case.
The court ordered framing of charges during the next hearing on September 8 after designated judge N S Gill rejected the two leaders’ pleas to dismiss the case against them. They are accused of laundering money that had been generated from the Bhola’s drug smuggling.
It was in November 2013 that Bhola, an Arjuna-award winning wrestler, was caught with the massive haul of party drug Ice. Investigations had led to a number of Punjab politicians and NRIs being named in the case.
Phillaur, who is now with the Congress, was an Akali stalwart who had won the Phillaur assembly seat four times. In 2012, he contested from Kartarpur and won. He resigned fas minister in 2014 after his name appeared in the
Bhola case. The former jails minister had left SAD in November 2016 and joined Congress after he was denied a ticket to contest the 2017 assembly elections.
Chander, a former chief parliamentary secretary in the Akali government, had also resigned along with Phillaur to join Congress in November 2016, but his entry was blocked by Captain
Amarinder Singh. He was eyeing the Congress ticket from the
Adampur.
The Enforcement Directorate had in July last year filed a challan against the three and six others before a special CBI court which is also the special designated court under the PMLA Act. In December last year, the court had rejected their antiparty bail pleas. ED had produced a diary containing details of transactions that had taken place using the money that had been allegedly generated from the drug trade operated by Bhola.
ED had initiated investigations against the accused after Punjab police had detected the racket with national and international ramifications. Officials had even made huge recoveries of heroin, methamphetamine (Ice) pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, opium and Rs 1.91 crore in cash. Besides, some foreign currencies, pistols, cartridges and luxury vehicles.
