E-Paper
ED chargesheet gives SIT fresh ammo against Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira
The challan filed by Enforcement Directorate establishes the link between the three-time Congress MLA and the convicted drug dealer Gurdev
Apart from collecting its evidence, the Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing a drug case registered against Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira, is relying heavily on the probe in the money laundering case conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in which the central agency has charged the three-time MLA from Bholath of receiving money from international drug syndicate involved in the case in lieu of protection. Khaira was arrested by Fazilka Police on September 28 after SIT added a fresh section under the NDPS Act in the 2015 case on the same day.
The ED chargesheet submitted in the court in January 2022 has categorically submitted that the facts established in the probe, beyond doubt, found that Khaira knowingly involved himself in the offence committed by Gurdev and others under the provisions of the NDPS Act.
Gurdev, a former market committee chairman from Bholath, was caught with 2kg of heroin in 2015 and was arrested by Fazilka district police in the case. Gurdev, along with the other accused, were convicted in the case.
“Gurdev used to contribute money to Khaira’s election campaigns and also provided his vehicle for campaigning. Both have close family relations and the said fact has been admitted by both in their respective statements. It has been revealed by one of the convicts (Harbans Singh) that Khaira had approached the high-ranking officers to help Gurdev in the NDPS Act case,” the chargesheet claims.
“The said facts have also been corroborated from the analysis of phone calls among Gurdev, Manish Kumar PA to Khaira, Joga Singh (PSO of Khaira), Charanjeet Kaur (Gurdev’s sister settled in the UK) and Khaira by Punjab Police,” it said.
The chargesheet claims that Gurdev had admitted that he had borne the expenses of Khaira’s election campaigns.
The ED chargesheet claims an amount of ₹6. 61 crore was spent by Khaira, which is way more than his known sources of income of ₹2. 78 crore for the period between April 1, 2014, and March 31, 2020.
“Khaira spent ₹3. 82 crore more than his income during the relevant period of heroin smuggling, which is nothing but the proceeds of crime obtained/received from the international drug syndicate in lieu of protection /passage provided for smuggling of narcotic drugs. Not only cash payments of ₹3. 82 crore was made by Gurdev to Khaira, but he also had funded for election campaigns of Khaira out of the proceeds of crime derived from illegal drugs business which are scheduled offences under PMLA, 2002,” the ED probe revealed.
The Punjab Police SIT, headed by DIG Jalandhar, Swapan Sharma, arrested Khaira under section 27 (A) of NDPS and said that even before the SIT named Khaira as an accused in the case, the ED had categorically mentioned that he was sheltering the drug trader Gurdev.
“What the Punjab Police’s probe in the case is saying about Khaira has already been elaborated in the ED chargesheet. We are thoroughly examining the ED chargesheet to collect more evidence,” an SIT member said, who did not wish to be named.
Khaira’s son Mehtab Khaira, termed the claims made by ED in the chargesheet as baseless and mere assumptions.
“ED is claiming that my father received money from Gurdev. Has the agency been able to track how the money was received by my father? No. There are several other such stories given by ED in the probe like why we used a loan raised from the agricultural limit for my and my sister’s marriage. How using agricultural limit for personal purposes is money laundering?” said Mehtab. The next hearing in the ED court is scheduled for October 13.
