Drug smuggler held guilty by special ED court in Amritsar
Darpan News Desk IANS, 02 Jun, 2023 12:50 PM
New Delhi, June 2 (IANS) A Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Court in Jalandhar has awarded four years of rigorous imprisonment to one Mahabir Singh, a drug smuggler in Amritsar for committing the offence of money laundering.
The court while awarding him a jail term also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on him.
The ED said that his immovable properties which were earlier attached, were confiscated under Section 8(5) of the PMLA.
The ED initiated PMLA investigation against the accused in 2009 on the basis of an FIR registered at the Sada police station, Amritsar, under various sections of the NDPS Act and the Arms Act.
Singh was earlier convicted under the NDPS Act and was held guilty for possessing 15 kg of heroin.
Investigation conducted by the ED revealed that the proceeds of crime generated from drug trade were invested by the accused in immovable properties which were subsequently attached by the ED.
After investigation, the ED filed a prosecution complaint in 2017 under the provisions of PMLA.
The court found the accused guilty and awarded him a jail term.
The police have arrested six persons in this connection, out of whom two are residents of Liluah in Howrah district, two are from Maharashtra and one from Gujarat. The police suspect that besides running the fake call centre, the arrested persons were also involved in illegal hawala transactions.
A forensic science lab team also reached the spot and inspected the suitcase and the spot where the body was found. The hands and the feet of the victim were tied with a rope, a police officer said, not ruling out the possibility of foul play in the case.
The officials said that some dreaded criminals were lodged in the same ward, adding that Sisodia has not raised any complaint in food or other things so far. Sisodia, who was arrested on February 26 in the Delhi excise policy case, was lodged in the cell on Monday after due formalities which included some medical tests.
Special public prosecutor (SPP) Amit Prasad argued the charges against Poonawala. It was submitted that the accused is a trained chef from Taj Hotel and is aware of preserving the flesh. Poonawala had also ordered dry ice, agarbatti etc. after killing Shraddha Walker, the police said.
Carrying placards, father Balkaur Singh and mother Charan Kaur told the media it has been almost a year of the crime occurrence and the main culprits have not been arrested.They demanded that the case should be investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as crucial witnesses "are being eliminated and nothing is going in their favour."
The accused were identified as Mohd. Danish (33) and Danish alias Raja (30), both residents of Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh. Police have also recovered five high end luxury cars and SUVs from the possession of the accused.
