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Money laundering case: ED arrests jailed AAP MLA Gajjanmajra’s brother
According to an ED official, the agency, after Gajjanmajra’s arrest, had sent summons to Balwant to join the investigation multiple times but he continued to ignore them.
The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Balwant Singh, brother of AAP MLA from Amargarh Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a bank fraud case amounting to ₹40.92 crore.
AAP legislator Gajjanmajra is already behind the jail in this matter after the central agency arrested him on November 6 last year. Gajjanmajra has already approached the Supreme Court to secure bail in the case.
The ED produced Balwant Singh in a special PMLA court in Mohali, which sent him into ED custody for four days. The central agency had sought a seven-day remand of the accused.
“After Gajjanmajra’s arrest, the investigation agency had sent summons to Balwant to join the investigation multiple times but he continued to ignore them, following which he was arrested on Saturday,” an ED official said.
The AAP legislator, who was the former director of Tara Corporation Limited (renamed Malaudh Agro Ltd) and Tara Health Food Limited (THFL), was accused of diverting and misusing loans amounting to ₹40.92 crore sanctioned in the name of different firms.
It may be mentioned that the ED initiated an investigation based on an FIR registered by CBI, Chandigarh, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The ED investigation revealed that the loan amount had been diverted to various bogus firms from Tara Corporation Limited and after that, diverted and integrated into THFL and another sister concern by the name Tara Sales Limited.
“The amounts received into THFL had been used for purposes other than for which loan was availed. Amounts to the extent of ₹3.12 crore had been diverted to the personal accounts of Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra. Another ₹33.99 crore was diverted to THFL of which AAP legislator was the director during the relevant period,” an ED investigation revealed.
In September 2022, the ED carried out searches at the business and residential premises of Jaswant Singh and his associates and found various incriminating evidence, hard drives and Indian currency worth ₹32 lakh.
On the complaint of the Ludhiana-based branch of Bank of India, the CBI had registered an FIR in February 2018 under various sections of the IPC against Gajjanmajra and six others for committing fraud with the bank for not repaying and misusing loans taken by firms owned by Gajjanmajra and his family members from 2011-2014.
In its complaint, the bank said the firm, which traded in foodgrains, was sanctioned loans in four intervals from 2011-14. The CBI conducted the raids based on a complaint against Gajjanmajra’s firm in Gaunspura, Malerkotla, by the Bank of India in Ludhiana. A sum of ₹16.57 lakh, 88 foreign currency notes and incriminating documents were recovered during the searches, according to CBI.
