A special court in Mohali has allowed confiscation of assets worth about ₹10 crore in a drug trafficking case involving former Arjuna awardee wrestler Jagdish Singh Bhola, who had also served as a Deputy Superintendent of Police in Punjab.
Bhola was dismissed from the Punjab police after his role in drug trafficking surfaced. The government also took away from him the Arjuna Award conferred in 1997. He was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in Mumbai in 2008.
The Punjab police arrested Bhola in November 2013, following which Enforcement Directorate also took him into its custody in January 2014. Since then he has been in judicial custody in the money laundering case and is also serving sentences in multiple cases.
“On the ED's request, the special court has allowed confiscation of the assets, which include immovable properties, Indian and foreign currencies and fixed-deposits, in respect of four accused persons named Roy Bahadur Nirwal, Mahesh Gaba, Anoop Singh Kahlon and Varinder Singh Raja. They were absconding during the course of trial,” said an agency official.
The properties were earlier attached by the ED and the attachment order was confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
In 2013-14, the Punjab police had registered multiple criminal cases against Bhola and his associates. He was accused of running a drug trafficking syndicate having links with elements operating from the United States, Canada and Europe. Based on those cases, the ED initiated the money laundering probe and has so far attached properties worth ₹95 crore.
A special court for cases instituted by the Central Bureau of Investigation, had convicted Bhola and 21 others in February 2019. His syndicate used to divert precursor chemicals to illicit factories set up in Himachal Pradesh for manufacturing synthetic drugs worth hundreds of crores, which were supplied overseas.
During the investigation, the Punjab police had identified more than 50 non-resident Indians living in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe who had links with Bhola’s syndicate.
