ED quizzes AAP MLA Kulwant Singh for PMLA ‘violation’
Jalandhar, January 30
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday questioned Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Mohali Kulwant Singh in its Jalandhar office in connection with an ongoing investigation related to the suspected violation of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Kulwant was quizzed for 10 hours. He came around 11 am and was let off at 9 pm. Coming out of the office, he did not reply to any media queries.
The MLA appeared before the ED for the first time today. He came under its radar after it found that the money trail from the liquor business of Akshay Chhabra, who is facing investigation by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), also reached Mohali-based realty company Janta Land Promotors Pvt Ltd (JLPL). Kulwant is the managing director of the company.
The AAP legislator’s offices and residential premises were searched by the ED on October 31, last year, when the officials had reportedly laid hands on some incriminating documents. They had also confiscated his mobile phone. The ED officials are also probing the connection of other directors in the company, including Paramjit Singh, in Chhabra’s other trades. Kulwant has so far not been made an accused in the case.
The raids had been conducted at 25 locations, including Ludhiana, Mohali, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Sriganganagar. The agency had then recovered cash totalling more than Rs 4.5 crore. The investigation had been initiated on the basis of a case registered by the NCB against Chhabra and associates under various provisions of the NDPS Act, 1985. During the investigation held by the NCB earlier, it had recovered 20 kg heroin from Chhabra and his associates.
Kulwant was among the richest candidates in the state in the 2022 assembly polls with declared assets worth Rs 254.68 crore. Earlier, Governor Banwarilal Purohit had also asked CM Bhagwant Mann to take strict action against the legislator’s real estate company as two of its projects allegedly violated environmental norms.
He had joined the AAP in December 2021 and won the 2022 assembly seat from Mohali.
