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ED attaches Punjab MLA Sukhpal Khaira’s house in Chandigarh; he responds
Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira said he learnt about the agency’s move to attach his Chandigarh residence from the media and that he hadn’t received any notice in this context
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NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached a house in Chandigarh worth ₹3.82 crore belonging to Punjab Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in connection with its money laundering probe linked to a drug trafficking case, the agency said on Tuesday.
The financial crimes probe agency said the property in Sector 5 of Chandigarh was attached on March 8 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), alleging that Khaira acquired and utilised the proceeds of the crime to the tune of ₹3.82 crore generated from an international drug syndicate operated by his close associate Gurdev Singh and his overseas-based associates.
Khaira said he learnt about the agency’s decision from the media. “I’ve just learnt through media that ED has attached my Chandigarh residence about which I want to clarify that I have received no notice about this from ED or any other government source. Even if the news is correct, I should have been notified instead of the news being released to the media. This is nothing but pure character assassination apart from the known fact that the BJP is misusing the ED to witch-hunt opposition leaders across India,” he said in a post on X.
Khaira, 60, won the assembly election in 2017 from the Bholath assembly seat in Punjab’s Kapurthala district on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket. He resigned from the primary membership of the Arvind Kejriwal-led party in January 2019 and floated his own outfit, the Punjab Ekta Party. He then joined the Congress and won the 2022 state polls from the Bholath seat.
In its statement on Tuesday, ED said: “In lieu of protection or passage provided for smuggling of narcotic drugs by Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Gurdev Singh provided cash payments of ₹3.82 crore to Khaira and also funded his election campaigns out of the proceeds of crime derived from illegal drugs business.”
The leader was arrested by ED during its investigation in November 2021 and a charge sheet was filed against him and Gurdev Singh before a special PMLA court in Mohali in January 2022. The court framed charges in the case in October 2023.
The agency said Gurdev Singh served as the chairman of the market Committee in Kapurthala district’s Dhilwan.
“Between April 1, 2014, and March 31, 2020, Khaira and his family members spent ₹6.61 crore apart from an unaccounted expenditure of ₹3.82 crore which was more than their known sources of income,” ED said.
