Haryana Congress ex-MLA Chhokar arrested by ED in Rs 1,500 crore money laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday morning arrested former Congress MLA Dharam Singh Chhokar in connection with a Rs 1500 crore money laundering case.

He was taken into custody from a hotel in Delhi .

Chhokar, a prominent political figure from Samalkha in Haryana, has served as an MLA twice from the constituency.

This arrest follows earlier action by the ED, which had previously arrested his son, Sikander Chhokar, in the same case.

The agency suspects large-scale financial irregularities and the use of shell companies to launder money.

The case is part of an ongoing investigation into illegal financial activities allegedly involving real estate and other sectors.

The ED initiated investigations based on FIRs registered by Gurugram police in 2023.

It was alleged that the firms owned by former MLA Dharam Chhoker and his sons – Vikas Chhoker and Sikander Chhaker – had collected around Rs 363 crores from around 1,500 home buyers under the affordable housing scheme, on the promise of providing houses in Sector 68 of Gurugram.

However, despite commitments to complete the project by 2021-22, the company failed to deliver the houses.

The home buyers held protests and dharnas against the Mahira Group, the real estate company owned by former MLA Chhoker and his sons.

The ED revealed after primary investigations that the company directors siphoned off home buyers' money by booking fake construction expenditure in group entities.

The cash equivalent to the fake purchases was received back from the entities providing fake bills and invoices by the directors of the Mahira group, which was used for personal gains.

The ED had seized the properties, offices of the Mahira group, vehicles, cash, and jewelry worth crores of rupees in the case in July 2023.

Chhoker was elected MLA for the first time in 2009 on the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) ticket, but he later joined the Congress.

He lost the elections in 2014 and was again elected MLA on the Congress ticket from Samalkha in 2019.

The Congress had fielded Chhoker from Samalkha again in the Assembly elections held in October last year, but he lost the elections.