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.
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The court had, on March 4, extended Sisodia's CBI custody for two days and listed his bail plea for March 10 and in the last two days, the CBI questioned him with key witnesses -- former excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna and former excise department secretary C. Arvind -- in this case, who recorded their statements in front of a magistrate.
A police official said that the two men, wearing masks, entered the bank branch at around 9.45 a.m. when only three employees were present there, and threatened the staff with a pistol. They forced the staff to open the vault where Rs 10 lakh was kept and fled with the money by 10.30 am.
The Chief Minister, who reviewed the arrangements for the mega event here, said Punjab is fully ready to host the sessions and asked the officers to ensure foolproof arrangements for the working sessions slated to take place at the holy city of Amritsar next week.
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As during over one-hour address in English, the Governor was referring to 36 government school principals being sent on a five-day leadership development programme to Singapore, Bajwa again stood up and reminding Purohit about his letter to Mann on the issue.
