ED yet to ask 3 NRIs named in drug racket to join probe
Thursday, 12/03/2015
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IN ED MUDDLE No agency knows the whereabouts of 3 named by key accused in statement to ED
JALANDHAR: Even as the names of three NRIs — Satpreet Singh, alias Satta, Amninder Singh Laadi and Parminder Singh Pindi — appear prominently in the statement of Jagjit Singh Chahal, the arrested pharma company owner and the key accused in the synthetic drugs racket, to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the central investigation agency is yet to ask the three to join investigation in the case.
The police have also failed to investigate the NRIs and their activities in the country.
Police sources said Pindi and Laadi had been booked in a drug case at the Banur police station, but the department made no effort to deport the duo from Edmonton, Canada, where they reside as per the statements of the other accused.
Chahal has also told the ED that Pindi and Laadi were introduced to him by another accused Manjinder Singh Bittu Aulakh.
Aulakh has claimed that he introduced Pindi and Laadi to Chahal through Satta and Satta was introduced to him by Punjab revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia.
A top ED official, who was part of the drug probe till few months ago, said no agency till now knew the roots that Pindi and Laddi had in India.
Ferozepur senior superintendent of police Hardial Singh Mann, who cracked the case, while being posted as the Fatehgarh Sahib senior superintendent of police refused comment. Patiala senior superintendent of police Gurmeet Singh Chauhan did not take repeated calls.
The antecedents of Satta, who Chahal has claimed to have frequently seen at Majithia’s residence and was also reportedly present at the minister’s wedding in November 2009, have also not been verified.
He is a native of Marnayian Kalan village in Hoshiarpur and has an uncle staying there.
However, sources said that the uncle, Balbir Singh, had never been questioned on whether Satta visited him during his regular trips to the country.
Chahal and Aulakh have told the ED that the three NRIs used to stay at the minister’s house in Amritsar as well as his official residence in Sector 39, Chandigarh, during their visits.
