Former minister Lal Singh appears before ED in Jammu; supporters stage protest
Choudhary Lal Singh appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Monday for questioning in connection with a case against an educational trust run by his wife and former legislator Kanta Andotra, official sources said. Scores of Singh's supporters led by his wife Andotra assembled outside the agency office and staged a protest against the ED summons to their leader, claiming that he is spotless and is being deliberately harassed at the behest of the BJP.
Singh, the chairman of the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party, reached the agency office in Narwal at 10 am for questioning for a second time in three days, sources said. ED sleuths had questioned him earlier on Saturday.
Last week, the Enforcement Directorate had conducted searches in Jammu and its adjoining areas as part of a money laundering probe against the educational trust of Andotra and a former government official in connection with alleged irregularities in land purchase to set up the trust.
The federal agency had raided about eight premises in Jammu, Kathua and Punjab's Pathankot in the case against RB Educational Trust, its chairperson and Ravinder S, a former revenue official.
The money laundering case stems from an October 2021 charge sheet filed by the CBI in this case which alleged criminal connivance in the issuance of land between January 4 and January 7, 2011, without mentioning details in respect of violation of the ceiling limit of 100 standard kanals imposed under Section 14 of the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976, thereby giving undue pecuniary advantage to trust.
Based on this, the trust acquired multiple pieces of land of about 329 kanals vide three gift deeds executed on January 5 and January 7, 2011, the CBI charge sheet
