A special PMLA court in Mohali has ordered “confiscation” of Rs 10 crore worth assets that were attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a drugs money laundering case of Punjab involving prime accused Jagdish Singh alias Bhola, the agency said on Wednesday. The properties include immovable assets, Indian and foreign currencies and fixed deposits that were in the name of four other accused in this case — Roy Bahadur Nirwal, Mahesh Gaba, Anoop Singh Kahlon and Varinder Singh Raja.
The four have been absconding, the ED said. The agency said in a statement that the court “while passing the confiscation order categorically observed that no objection regarding confiscation of the properties has come from any quarter in spite of publication in the newspaper to the general public.”
“The learned court held that since the properties attached by the ED have been confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority (of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act) and the accused persons have been declared as proclaimed offenders (by the court) for evading the process of law subsequent to prosecution complaints filed against them, the said properties are confiscated to the central government,” it said.
The confiscation order pertains to a multi-crore synthetic narcotics racket that was unearthed during 2013-14 in Punjab. The money laundering case was filed by the ED after the FIRs registered by the Punjab Police.
The case is commonly know as the Bhola drug case to identify the alleged “kingpin”, wrestler- turned-policeman-turned-“drug mafia” Jagdish Singh alias Bhola, the ED alleged. Bhola was arrested by the ED in January, 2014 and he has been in judicial custody since then.
“He had filed three bail applications on various dates to secure bail, however, all were dismissed by the special court,” it said. The ED has attached assets to the tune of Rs 95 crore in this case till now.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here.
Comments
0 comment