ED files chargesheet against Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in 2015 drug racket case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) court on Friday has framed charges against Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in the 2015 drug racket case. The charges were framed under PLMA by a special ED court in Mohali. 

Khaira was recently arrested by the Punjab police from his Chandigarh residence in connection with an eight-year-old case registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in a 2015 international drug racket case. The Central agency has filed the chargesheet against Khaira for having transactions with international drug case convict Gurdev Singh.

Congress attacked AAP and termed Khaira's arrest a part of vindictive politics. While the Bhagwant Mann government called the action as part of their "zero-tolerance policy" against drugs.

In 2015, two cases came to the fore related to the cross-border drug smuggling network in Fazilka, Punjab. Heroin, gold biscuits, weapons, cartridges, and Pakistani SIM cards were seized. During the trial, 9 smugglers, including Gurdev Singh, Manjit Singh, Harbans Singh, and Subhash Chander, were sentenced in October 2017 in connection with the Fazilka case.

As per the chargesheet, Khaira was closely associated with Gurdev Singh, the leader of the Fazilka drug smuggling racket, and is accused of having sheltered him, receiving financial benefits from drug traffickers, and enjoying the proceeds of crime.