Fourth accused arrested in Phillaur ICE seizure case

Jalandhar, July 17

Following the arrest of Harpreet Singh, the brother of Khadoor Sahib MLA Amritpal Singh and his aide Lovepreet Singh as well as a Ludhiana-based supplier Sandeep Arora by the Jalandhar rural police, a fourth person has also been nabbed by the police — who had been aiding drug supplier Sandeep Arora. Identified as Ludhiana-based Manish Marwaha, the fourth accused in the case was arrested on Monday, after the police carried out an investigation into Sandeep Arora’s financial linkages.

Till now, the five persons nominated in the case are: Amritpal’s brother Harpreet Singh alias Happy, a resident of Jallupur Khera in Khilchian, Amritsar; Lovepreet Singh, a resident of Cheema Bath in Beas, Amritsar; Sandeep Arora, a resident of Itanagar at Haibowal, Ludhiana and Manish Marwaha, a resident of New Atam Nagar, Ludhiana.

The trail has also lead to a fifth accused, who was facilitating drug supplier Sandeep Arora. He is yet to be nabbed by the police.

Officials said the probe led to Manish Marwaha after an investigation into Sandeep Arora’s bank transactions. Police officials informed that Marwaha’s bank account was being used to accept drug related online payments from Arora’s business.

A statement by the police had claimed that Harpreet revealed he had been using drugs for the past three years. However, officials said Sandeep Arora’s links and financial transactions were the key to uncovering the supply chain of drugs in the case.

The Jalandhar rural police had on Thursday evening nabbed Khadoor Sahib MP and pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh’s brother Harpreet Singh from Phillaur and allegedly recovered 4 grams of ICE (Methamphetamine also known as crystal meth) from his possession. He had been arrested with aide Lovepreet Singh and drug supplier Sandeep Arora (from whom they had bought the Ice after payment via Paytm). Upon investigation, Sandeep Arora, who had allegedly supplied narcotics to the duo, had also been arrested on Friday.

According to the police, Harpreet and Lovepreet had procured drugs from Ludhiana and were apprehended by Phillaur police’s patrol teams, on way back to Amritsar, on the highway, in a parked car. The police is looking into the causes and links of why the Amritsar-based duo procured drugs from a Ludhiana-based supplier and who were the other buyers and/or clients of Sandeep Arora.

SSP Jalandhar Dr Ankur Gupta said, “A fourth accused Manish Marwaha has been apprehended in the case and Sandeep Arora’s financial linkages are being investigated to uncover the forward and backward linkages of the drug supply trail.”

While a Phillaur court had remanded Harpreet and Lovepreet to 14 days in judicial custody, the Jalandhar rural police (Phillaur) had obtained three-day remand for Sandeep Arora and Manish Marwaha on Monday.