E-Paper
Money laundering case: HC seeks Khaira’s response on plea from ED
The HC has sought response from Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira on a plea from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that wants to quiz him again in a money laundering case
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday sought response from Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira on a plea from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that wants to quiz him again in a money laundering case.
The high court bench of justice Sureshwar Thakur has sought response by November 30. Earlier, two judges of the high court had recused from hearing the plea.
The ED in this plea has challenged a Mohali court order which denied the ED custody of Khaira and sent him to judicial custody on November 18. The Mohali court had sent him to judicial custody even as the ED had sought a seven-day remand.
The ED had claimed Khaira was an accomplice of drug case convicts and fake passport racketeers. He is also to be questioned about the source of funds that Khaira got from the United States for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in 2016. The ED had claimed that he did not cooperate during the custody.
The ED arrested Khaira, a former Punjab MLA, on November 11 under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The central probe agency had raided his premises in March this year. Proceedings have been initiated in connection with a 2015 FIR.
A court had convicted four persons and by the same order, Khaira was summoned as “additional accused”.
In December 2017, the Supreme Court stayed his summoning.
Khaira, who joined Congress in June, has all along maintained that these proceedings are part of a “political vendetta”.
