ED arrests Punjab AAP MLA in bank fraud-linked money laundering case

Punjab AAP MLA Jaswant Singh Gajjan Majra was on Monday arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering investigation linked to a bank fraud case official sources saidThe legislator was taken into custody under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA after he was detained by agency officials from a public meeting he was holding in Malerkotla they saidThe sources alleged that Gajjan Majra a legislator from the Amargarh assembly constituency had skipped multiple summons issued to him in the past and hence was detained by the officials and then arrested after questioningThe Aam Aadmi Partys Punjab spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang charged that the way Gajjan Majra was picked up from a public meeting by the ED shows the BJPs politics of defaming the partyHe said the MLA has been facing a case since before he joined AAPThe central agency raided the MLA and some others in September last year as part of this PMLA investigation that stems from a March 2022 FIR filed by the CBI AntiCorruption Branch ChandigarhThe CBI FIR was registered against Tara Corporation Limited TCL renamed Malaudh Agro Limited on September 24 2018 its directors Jaswant Singh Gajjan Majra Balwant Singh Kulwant Singh Tejinder Singh their associates and other sister concerns in Ludhiana Malerkotla Khanna Payal and DhuriThe ED said it had seized mobile phones hard drives and Indian currency worth Rs 32 lakh from multiple premises that were searchedIt said the Bank of Indias Model Town branch in Ludhiana had sanctioned a loan on cash credit limits aggregating Rs 35 crore to the company as against hypothecation of stocks and book debts on 23092011 under sole banking arrangementThe account was also sanctioned an ad hoc limit of Rs 6 crore in February 2014 which is yet to be repaid by the company the agency saidTCLs account was declared a NonPerforming Asset on March 31 2014 the ED had saidIt added that the aggregate loan outstanding is Rs 76 crore and Jaswant Singh Balwant Singh Kulwant Singh and Tejinder Singh were directors and guarantors in the loan account of Tara Corporation LimitedWhen a fresh RoC Registrar of Companies search was initiated by the bank in May 2016 it was observed that there was a drastic change in the directors of the company without intimation to or prior permission of bank and Kirpal Singh Tiwana Harish Kumar and Lakhbir Singh had been appointed as directors of TCL and principal person Balwant Singh had resigned from the directorship the ED allegedLater Balwant Singh had also been reappointed as director of the company on May 25 2016 it saidOn the basis of information available an investigation was initiated against the abovesaid persons and their associates in order to ascertain the money laundering activities undertaken by them for laundering their proceeds of crime the agency addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever