In connection with its money laundering inquiry into the affairs of Sukhpal Singh Khaira, former leader of the Opposition in the Punjab assembly, the ED has summoned prominent fashion designers Sabyasachi, Manish Malhotra, and Ritu Kumar for interrogation. Khaira is being investigated for alleged narcotics trafficking and a passport fraud scheme.
According to sources, the three designers have been summoned to appear before ED this week to face inquiries about alleged financial activities. “We have information that Khaira paid cash to the three designers in the amount of many lakhs of rupees in 2018-19. An ED officer stated, “We want to interrogate them about these transactions.”
Kaira, who was previously a member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) but is now the leader of the Punjab Ekta Party, is being investigated by the CBI for suspected money laundering in connection with the 2015 Fazilka narcotics smuggling case.
At March, the agency carried out searches in 12 different locations throughout Punjab, Chandigarh, and Delhi. Those raided included those convicted in the Fazilka case and Khaira’s son-in-law, Inderveer Singh Johal.
Apart from the Fazilka case, the raids were also linked to a bogus passport ring for which the Delhi police had filed a FIR.
The Fazilka case is the arrest of nine persons by Punjab Police in 2015 for being members of a drug-smuggling ring on the Indo-Pak border. The smugglers were caught with 1800 grammes of Heroin, 24 gold biscuits, two firearms, 26 live cartridges, and two Pakistani SIM cards, according to the police.
“The drugs were smuggled through the Indo-Pak border. One of the kingpins of the syndicate is in the UK. Sukhpal Singh Khaira was aiding and supporting the gang of international smugglers and enjoying the proceeds of crime,” a senior ED official alleged.
Khaira’s name had been mentioned during Punjab Police investigations, and a Fazilka court had summoned him in November 2017 after convicting nine persons in the case. Khaira, on the other hand, had sought Supreme Court relief from the lower court’s summons.
According to ED sources, Khaira was in contact with the smuggling ring’s kingpin in the United Kingdom. Another ED officer added, “He has also been in touch with certain accused in the fake passport scam, where Delhi police detained one guy in January.”
After finding them guilty in the case, the Fazilka court sentenced nine people to jail terms ranging from three to twenty years in 2017. Khaira was a spokesman for the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee at the time and had yet to join the AAP.
The state then told the court that Khaira had communicated with convicted accused Gurdev Singh 65 times between February 27, 2015 and March 8, 2015, using the phone of his PSO Joga Singh. Even a day before his arrest on March 8, 2015, Singh, who was on the run after a FIR was filed against him, allegedly spoke to Khaira.
