Punjab minister's son 'summoned for questioning over Rs 5,000 crore drug racket'
Punjab Jail Minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Punjab Jail Minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur's son Damanvir in a Rs 5,000 crore drug racket.
He has been asked to appear in the ED's Jalandhar office on February 28 for questioning.
Damanvir is an office-bearer of Akali Dal's youth wing, headed by minister Bikram Singh Majithia.
Damanvir is apparently being summoned on the basis of druglord Jagdish Singh Bhola's statement given to the ED, in which he has allegedly disclosed that Damanvir introduced Delhi-based smuggler Varinder Raja to Chuni Lal Gaba, a businessman who owns a cold storage in Goraya and a drug unit in Himachal Pradesh's Baddi.
Raja allegedly used to supply synthetic drugs (pseudoephedrine) to Canada and is currently lodged in Patiala jail, while Gaba is believed to be an aide of Damanvir.
Sources said Bhola had also named Damanvir and Majithia in the Rs 5,000 crore drug racket.
The Phillaur family's relations with Gaba had come to light on February 18 this year, when he had allegedly tried to stall an income-tax raid on the latter's cold storage.
Sources said the income-tax department officials had also recovered a diary from Gaba's office which allegedly has details about the money handed out to politicians and police officers.
The ED has now asked the income tax department to hand over the diary and other documents seized from Gaba's office.
The ED is likely to get the documents, which could expose more people involved in drug trafficking.
Sources said Damanvir has already flown to Dubai after his name surfaced in the drug racket.
However, his minister father has denied the allegations, saying Damanvir's Dubai tour was planned well in advance.
"We have family relations with Gaba for two decades. We have no business relations with him and we cannot be held responsible merely on the basis of family relations. Damanvir is not a criminal which prevents him from travelling places. He has not gone to Dubai to evade the Enforcement Directorate. So far we have not received any summons. We will think about it when we receive it," Sarwan said.
Sources said that while Damanvir has been summoned by the ED, Majithia is yet to be summoned.
The ED has already questioned a Chandigarh-based money exchanger, Ankur Bajaj.
He has been questioned twice, on February 21 and 24. Sources also said that on Monday he was questioned for six hours about the source of Bhola's money.
Bhola had claimed that that he had received Rs 50 lakh from Bajaj, but the ED believes the money was sent through hawala.
Besides Damanvir and Majithia, there are over four dozen high profile Punjab residents who are also under the ED scanner.
Bhola claims Majithia is drug cartel kingpin
By Manjeet Sehgal in Chandigarh
Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia
Druglord Jagdish Singh Bhola, in his 19-page statement, has allegedly told the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia is the 'kingpin' of the Rs 5,000 crore international drug racket.
Bhola, an Arjuna awardee wrestler who was sacked as deputy superintendent of police (DSP), was arrested along with four of his associates from Gannaur, near New Delhi, on November 11, 2013 for carrying drugs worth Rs 20 crore.
On January 6, Bhola had told the media that Majithia was involved in the multi-crore international drug racket. He claimed that Majithia had tried to use his resources to stop Bhola from being questioned. He also alleged that he had revealed the name of the minister involved in the racket to the police.
"I was under pressure to keep quiet and not reveal the names of the ministers involved in the racket. The police stopped my interrogation after Majithia made a phone call," Bhola had said.
The former wrestler, in a detailed statement to the ED, has allegedly tried to establish how Majithia was involved in the drug trade and his relations with druglords.
"Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Manjinder Singh Aulakh alias Bittu and Jagjit Singh Chahal used to supply pseudoephedrine to Parbinder Singh alias Pindi in Canada. Once they supplied inferior quality pseudoephedrine to him and he asked them to return the Rs 1.5 crore he had paid.
"Later, Aulakh and Chahal refused to supply the chemical to Pindi and another druglord, Satpreet Singh Satta.
But both were later forced to supply pseudoephedrine to Satta and Pindi following Bikram Singh Majithia's intervention," Bhola is believed to have told ED officials in his statement.
Bhola has also allegedly told the ED that Pindi and Satta are known to Majithia and had also attended his wedding in Chandigarh in November 2009.
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Majithia have all denied the allegations and have termed them as a Congress propaganda.
"Bhola is an old friend of Bajwa and is dancing to the tune of Congress leaders who met him in jail.
I have never met Bhola. He has also admitted this. How can a person who has never met me dub me as the kingpin? He was arrested after an eight-month chase and it is the Punjab Police which arrested him," Majithia said.
"Why would the Punjab Police take this step if patronage was being given to drug smugglers by the state?" said Majithia, whose elder sister, Harsimrat Badal, the Lok Sabha MP from Bathinda, is married to the Punjab deputy chief minister.