E-Paper
Ludhiana: ED raids liquor baron Charanjit Bajaj’s house, office
The enforcement agency questioned Bajaj and sought his bank and property details; ED also raided eight establishments belonging to Bajaj’s family members and associates, most of which are in Ludhiana
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday raided the office and house of prominent Ludhiana-based liquor contractor Charanjit Bajaj aka Channi Bajaj, the owner of Bajaj and Company.
The raid, which started early in the morning, continued till 3pm. The ED team, which was accompanied by paramilitary personnel, arrived at the liquor contractor’s house in Sarabha Nagar, early in the morning.
Simultaneously, ED also raided eight establishments belonging to Bajaj’s family members and associates, most of which are in Ludhiana. Besides scrutinising records, ED also questioned Channi Bajaj. The enforcement agency also sought details of his property and banks details.
It is for the second time in past two months that the liquor baron has come under the scanner of authorities. In November, an FIR had been registered under the Excise Act against Bajaj, and his employees Mahinder Singh and Harjinder Singh of Gill village, after the excise and taxation department raided four godowns at Ishar Singh Nagar near GNE College where liquor had allegedly been stored illegally. Assistant excise and taxation Commissioner (AETC) Harsimrat Grewal, who led the team, said that over 1,000 boxes of illicit liquor were seized during the raid.
In November 2019, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had booked Bajaj for defrauding State Bank of India (SBI) to the tune of ₹73.41 crore.
A case had been registered against Bajaj, his wife, his firm Pure Milk Products Private Limited and unidentified public servants and private persons for criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery of valuable security, forgery for purpose of cheating, use of forged documents as genuine, and criminal misconduct.
The FIR had been lodged based on the complaint of Jagdish Lal, deputy general manager, SBI Ludhiana. He had accused Bajaj and his wife of embezzling the loan taken by his company, Pure Milk Products, by making payments to fictitious companies and fudging accounts to enjoy higher credit facility.
