E-Paper
Punjab: AAP MLA Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra sent to judicial custody
Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra was taken into custody as had evaded three summons by ED for questioning him in the case
A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Aam Aadmi Party’s Amargarh MLA Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, 60, in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case registered against him last year, special judge (CBI and ED), sent him to 14-day judicial remand.
Gajjanmajra was taken into custody as had evaded three summons by ED for questioning him in the case.
Gajjanmajra appeared before the Mohali court through video conferencing (VC) owing to poor health.
Earlier in the day, the AAP MLA was shifted to PGIMER, Chandigarh, from Amritsar medical college, after he complained of chest pain and uneasiness post-arrest.
Gajjanmajra was taken into custody while he was attending a public meeting in his constituency. Following his arrest, the AAP legislator was brought to ED’s regional headquarters in Jalandhar from where he was taken for medical examination at Jalandhar’s civil hospital.
After nearly five hours of medical investigation, the doctors referred him to Amritsar medical college.
Meanwhile, the MLA, as per the court, will continue to get treatment in PGI and in case he will recover before completion of his judicial remand, he will be shifted to Ropar Central Jail.
The prosecution also did not seek remand of the MLA citing the legislators’ poor health.
Defence counsels including HS Dhanoa and Shikhar Sareen opposed the arrest of the AAP MLA contending that since the MLA didn’t join the investigation, ED could have only imposed a fine each time he evaded the summons and should have not arrested him.
However ED counsels and the investigating officer in the case informed the court that MLA had appeared before ED last year in September but when he was later summoned, his son had submitted that the MLA was out of the country even when he was attending public gatherings in India.
The court also took the health update of the MLA from his doctor through VC. The doctor told the court that the MLA was in stable condition.
The next hearing of the case has been scheduled on November 20.
In September 2022, an ED team had raided Gajjanmajra’s house besides a school and cattle feed factory run by his family at Amargarh.
ED registered the PMLA case after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) searched Gajjanmajra’s properties in connection with a ₹40.92-crore bank fraud case last year. A sum of ₹16.57 lakh, 88 foreign currency notes and incriminating documents were recovered during the searches, according to CBI.
Gajjanmajra is among seven people and companies named as accused in the case.
CBI conducted the raids on the basis of a complaint against Gajjanmajra’s firm in Gaunspura, Malerkotla, by the Bank of India in Ludhiana. In its complaint, the bank said the firm, which traded foodgrains, was sanctioned loans in four intervals from 2011-14.
The CBI had registered an FIR in February 2018 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Gajjanmajra and six others for committing fraud with the bank for not repaying and misusing loans taken by three firms owned by AAP MLA and his family members from 2011-2014.
