PMLA court allows confiscation of Rs 10 crore assets in Bhola drug case

The Special (PMLA) Court here has allowed the confiscation of assets worth around Rs 10 crore in the Bhola drug case on the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the agency said on Wednesday.

ED had attached these assets including immovable properties, Indian currency, foreign currencies, fixed deposits earlier and subsequently filed applications under section 8(7) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in respect of four accused persons - Roy Bahadur Nirwal, Mahesh Gaba, Anoop Singh Kahlon and Varinder Singh Raja, who were absconding during the course of the trial.

According to ED, the court while passing the confiscation order, categorically observed that no objection regarding the confiscation of the properties has come from any quarter in spite of publication in the newspaper.

The court held that since the properties attached by ED have been confirmed by the adjudicating authority and the accused persons have been declared as proclaimed offenders by the court for evading the process of law subsequent to the prosecution complaints filed against them, these properties are confiscated to the central government.

In the Bhola drug case, multiple First Information Reports (FIRs) under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Arms Act were registered by the Punjab Police in 2013 and 2014.

Following this, ED had initiated an investigation in the case pertaining to the multi-crore synthetic drug racket that was operated by wrestler-turned-cop-turned-drug mafia Jagdish Singh also known as Bhola.

During the course of the money-laundering investigation, statements of accused persons and witnesses were recorded and numerous documents from different agencies and authorities were also been obtained, ED said.

The statement said that so far five provisional attachment orders have been issued in this case in which total proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 95 crore has been attached.

Jagdish Singh, who was the kingpin of the crime, was arrested under section 19 of PMLA on January 23, 2014 by the ED, and since then he has been in judicial custody.

He had filed three bail applications on various dates to secure his bail. However, all were dismissed by Special PMLA court.

( With inputs from ANI )

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