CHANDIGARH: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the premises of Punjab MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira and a few others on Tuesday in connection with a money-laundering case linked to narcotics trafficking and the creation of an alleged fake passport, officials said.
The team arrived from Delhi.
ED sleuths also carried out searches at his Sector 5 residence in Chandigarh, and five other locations in Haryana and Punjab and two places in Delhi.
An ED official said, “Searches are going on since morning on several premises linked to Khaira.”
The official said the agency is looking after the property papers as well as banking transactions of Khaira. The official said the searches are going on after the agency registered a money laundering case.
Khaira, who was elected to the state Assembly in 2017 on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket, briefly spoke to the reporters waiting outside his residence and said he has “not done anything wrong”.
Sources in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said the action is being carried out against the Punjab lawmaker and others under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and is aimed at gathering more evidence to take forward the probe.
A few accused, who are being investigated in the case, are lodged in jail, the sources said
The PMLA probe is related to alleged drugs trafficking and a fake passport case, they said, adding that a few accused in the case are lodged in jail.
Khaira had floated a political party in 2019, Punjab Ekta Party. The new outfit had also established its units abroad.
Besides, Khaira has been vociferously taking up the issue of the suspicious death of farmer Navreet Singh, who died on January 26 during the farmers’ protest.