Former Punjab MLA and Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira granted bail in connection with money laundering case

Former Punjab MLA and Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira granted bail in connection with money laundering case

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Thursday, January 27, 2022, 05:19 PM IST
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Sukhpal Singh Khaira |

Former Punjab MLA and Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who was arrested in connection with a money laundering case, was granted regular bail by Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) nearly a week ago filed a charge sheet against Punjab Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira for allegedly laundering money in the 2017 Fazilka drug smuggling racket.

ED found that Khaira made substantial cash deposits in his and his family members’ bank accounts over the years, which he could not satisfactorily explain during interrogation. The charge sheet states that between 2014 and 2020, Khaira spent over Rs 6.5 crore on himself and family members. His income during this period was less than Rs 3 crore, but expenses were in excess of Rs 3.5 crore, said an official, requesting anonymity.

Khaira, 56, was arrested by the central anti-money laundering agency on November 11 for his links with drug smugglers and forgers making fake passports. At the time of arrest, Khaira denied any wrongdoing and said he was being targeted by central agencies as he has been vocal against the Centre’s three new farm laws (since repealed). “It is political vendetta. Nothing else,” said Khaira to media while being taken away by ED on November 11, 2021.

Khaira won the assembly election in 2017 from Bholath in Kapurthala district (Punjab) on an Aam Aadmi Party ticket. However, in January 2019, he quit the party and formed Punjab Ekta Party (PEP), which he merged with the Congress in June 2021.

He came under ED’s scanner in January 2021 in two matters -- the first pertaining to a cross-border drugs smuggling network unearthed in Fazilka, Punjab in 2015, in which 1.8 kg of heroin, 24 gold biscuits, two weapons, 26 live cartridges and two Pakistani SIM cards were seized by Jalalabad police (Punjab); and the second to a fake passport racket being run in Delhi.

Nine smugglers were sentenced in the Fazilka drugs smuggling case in October 2017 including Gurdev Singh, Manjit Singh, Harbans Singh and Subhash Chander.

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