ED arrests Punjab AAP MLA Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra in bank fraud linked money laundering case

Mahesh Sharma

Mandi Ahmedgarh, November 6

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday arrested Amargarh Aam Aadmi Party legislator Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra in alleged bank fraud linked money laundering case, officials said.

He will be produced in Mohali court on Tuesday morning.

Facing an alleged Rs 41-crore bank fraud case, Gajjanmajra was earlier rounded up from his office on Ludhiana-Malerkotla road when he was convening a meeting of newly elected block presidents of the party.

Jalandhar team of the Enforcement Directorate conducted the raid to arrest Gajjanmajra after undertaking a recce for a couple of days. ED sleuths entered his office in three batches today.

Gajjanmajra, who had been booked under a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case last year, had evaded summons multiple times.

Sources at Gajjanmajra’s office said two persons (sleuths in plain clothes) approached Gajjanmajra’s PA and told him that MLA Kulwant Singh from Ludhiana had sent them for a meeting with the MLA. Thus they succeeded in settling into the office and provided further information to their seniors.

After that four more persons came and persuaded Gajjanmajra to talk in private. AAP activists turned suspicious about the duo and allegedly manhandled them too. They were rescued by the sleuths who had declared their identity by now.

An ED team had raided Gajjanmajra’s house and other premises in September 2022. The PMLA case was registered against him after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had searched his properties in connection with an Rs 40.9 crore Bank Fraud case last year. Incriminating documents, Rs 16.57 lakh cash and 88 foreign currency notes were recovered during the searches by the CBI then.

Meanwhile, office-bearers and activists of various units of Aam Aadmi Party led by councillor and Block president Vikas Krishan Sharma have termed the ED action as political vendetta on the instance of the Union Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.