Arrested in drugs case, BJP expels Ferozepur ex-MLA

The BJP leader and former Ferozepur (Rural) MLA Satkar Kaur Gehri, who was arrested by the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) yesterday from Kharar in Mohali on charges of supplying drugs, was today expelled from the party.

In 2012, Satkar was handpicked by the then AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi to contest the Assembly poll, however she lost her maiden elections by a narrow margin of 107 votes. In 2017, she bounced back and got elected from Ferozepur (Rural) Assembly segment on the Congress ticket by a margin of 21,380 votes.

In 2022, the Congress denied her the ticket and expelled her for anti-party activities following which she joined the BJP.

Her husband Jasmel Singh Laddi Gehri was also elected Zila Parishad member and was nominated district president of the BJP (SC Wing), Ferozepur. Jasmel used to call the shots during Satkar’s tenure as an MLA.

Last year, the Vigilance Bureau had registered a case against Satkar along with her husband on charges of possessing disproportionate assets.

A few years ago, an audio clip had also gone viral in which Satkar was allegedly heard asking a Block Development Panchayat Officer regarding “collection” of funds.

Today, she was produced before the court, which remanded her in one-day police custody.

Yesterday, the ANTF laid a trap by sending a decoy customer who cracked the deal. As Satkar allegedly came to supply the consignment, officials caught her red handed with 100 grams of “chitta”.

Later, during the search of her house in Kharar, the ANTF seized 28 grams of “chitta”, Rs 1.56 lakh drug money, besides a few gold ornaments and four cars bearing fake registration plates.

The police had also nabbed Jaskeerat Singh, her nephew, who was also involved in the entire racket.

Sources said the STF Intelligence Technical Unit (SITU) had put her cellphones on surveillance after the ANTF received inputs from an addict who disclosed that he was being forced to supply drugs by Satkar.