The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday issued summons to Santosh, wife of chief parliamentary secretary (CPS) and Phillaur Akali legislator Avinash Chander, in a money-laundering inquiry related to the multi-crore-rupee synthetic drug racket associated with former wrestler Jagdish Bhola.
On March 9, the ED had interrogated her for 11 hours. It is also reported to have summoned Chander’s brother, Steven Kaler. The central agency has asked both to appear before the investigation officer on April 8 in its office near BMC Chowk here. Sources said that the agency had sought business record from the CPS but he had failed to turn up on the given dates. The agency then unearthed a lot of property that Chander is alleged to have bought in the name of Santosh.
Sources said the agency investigated Chander’s alleged relationship with Goraya-based businessman Chunni Lal Gaba, an accused in the case, whose property worth more than `80 crore it has attached already. The investigation was focussed on the diary that the income tax department had seized from Gaba and in which a few “prominent entries” are in the name of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) legislator.
The diary has “overwriting and cuttings” on a few pages carrying Chander’s name, and the ED had secured it from the income tax department through court and sent it for forensic analysis to find out the crossed-out names.
