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ED gets two more days to grill drug kingpin Akshay Chhabra
The federal agency produced Chhabra in Jalandhar’s special court (PMLA) after his five custody ended on Monday and the court extended his custody by two more days.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday got two more days to grill Ludhiana-based drug lord Akshay Chhabra.
The federal agency produced Chhabra in Jalandhar’s special court (PMLA) after his five custody ended on Monday and the court extended his custody by two more days.
The ED brought Chhabra, who was lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail, for further investigation into the money trail involving a cross-border drug smuggling racket on April 2.
In November 2022, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested Chhabra along with two Afghan nationals for allegedly smuggling 2,000kg heroin into Punjab in connivance with Dubai-based drug smuggler Haji Yusuf.
The NCB had on August 17 detained two smugglers —Chhabra and Jaspal Singh, alias Goldy — lodged in Bathinda jail under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) (PIT-NDPS) Act and sent them to Dibrugarh jail.
Based on NCB’s investigation, the ED had initiated a detailed probe into the matter in March 2023 and carried out multiple raids on the premises owned by top-notch realtors and liquor barons as both ED and NCB suspected Chhabra of investing drug money into real estate and liquor companies.
In January last year, the ED grilled AAP’s Mohali MLA Mohali Kulwant Singh for nearly seven hours following alleged investments by Chhabra in his real estate company.
In November 2023, the federal agency confiscated unaccounted cash worth ₹4.5 crore during raids at 25 locations, including the residence of Kulwant Singh and other locations belonging to Chhabra and his associates in Ludhiana, Mohali, Chandigarh, Amritsar and Jalandhar in Punjab and Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, under the PMLA following money trail in illegal drug trade case. Several digital devices and various incriminating documents related to money trail and property transactions were also then recovered and seized by ED.
