Punjab: Chunni Lal Gaba in prison as special court cancels his bail

MOHALI: Interim bail granted to Chunni Lal Gaba (72), a former president of Goraya municipal council and an accused in a money laundering case, in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak, was on Saturday cancelled by a special court.
Following Gaba’s surrender at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court here, which is also a designated Enforcement Directorate (ED) court, judge Harinder Kaur Sidhu sent him to judicial custody.
CBI court public prosecutor J P S Sarao said Gaba’s bail was dismissed following the Punjab and Haryana high court order of July 2, in the light of the Supreme Court directive that “bail in cases involving heinous crimes, like the offences under the NDPS Act, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, may not be granted as a matter of right”.
He said the interim bail was granted to Gaba on March 28 which was further extended on May 8 and was due to lapse on July 9.
He had been evading arrest after he, along with nine members of his family, were charge-sheeted by the ED on charges of amassing wealth violating the PMLA provisions. They were allegedly involved in the infamous multi-crore synthetic drug racket case, in which Jadish Singh Bhola is the prime accused.
Previously, Gaba’s plea for anticipatory bail had been rejected by the Patiala district court, then the Punjab and Haryana high court and later the Supreme Court.
Earlier, Gurmesh Kumar Gaba, son of former president of the Goraya municipal body, was already and he is in custody.
As per the chargesheet, Gurmesh’s brother Gurjit had sent a package containing pseudoephedrine, a banned substance, worth over Rs 150 crore to Canada and the money generated from the trade was used by the former to buy properties. The family had even surrendered Rs 16.5 crore during income tax raids, but the source of this money could never be traced. The family’s property worth over Rs 100 crore was also confiscated by the ED.
The Gabas allegedly own more than 115 prime properties worth over Rs 200 crore across north India.