Drug case: Former minister Phillaur, son seek discharge

MOHALI: Facing charges of money laundering in a case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the multi-crore Jagdish Bhola drug racket, former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) minister Sarwan Singh Phillaur and his son Damanvir Phillaur have moved a discharge application before a the court on Tuesday.

They face charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Phillaur resigned as tourism and jails minister from the Akali government in April 2014 after his son Damanvir’s name cropped up in the Bhola drug case.

“We have moved an application seeking discharge from the case through our advocate,” said Phillaur. The application will come up for hearing on April 17.

Meanwhile, another accused Bhola drug case, NRI Manpreet alias Mani Gill, on Tuesday told a local court that ₹1 core recovered from him was not the drug money as was shown by the police.

During the resumed hearing of cases registered by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Manpreet told the court the money recovered from him was illegal gratification paid to Punjab Police officials to release him from “illegal detention”. In his statement, another accused, NRI Anoop Singh Kahlon, also admitted that ₹8.94 lakh recovered from him was his. But he too denied that it was drug money.

The ED has been probing an international drug racket, which was unearthed with the arrest of Kahlon by the Fatehgarh Sahib police in March 2013. Further probe in the case led to the arrest of alleged kingpin Bhola, a dismissed DSP of Punjab Police.