Jagdish Bhola drug racket case: ED working to extradite 18 from UK, Canada

The accused, including women, are either NRIs or Persons of Indian Origin(PIO). “They were either involved in the smuggling of drugs or funding the drug smugglers,” said an ED official, requesting anonymity.

According to ED, these persons are mainly from Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Hoshiarpur districts of Punjab and Red Corner Notices (RCNs) were issued against at least 12 of them.

“There are 12 such persons who are currently living in Canada and half dozen in UK who must be extradited as soon as possible to carry forward the pending investigation,” the ED official said.

He said five of them hail from Jalandhar district, four from Ludhiana, and one each from Hoshiarpur, Amritsar districts.

As per the ED list, those who must be extradited include Parminder Singh Deo alias Pindi of village Kharoudi in Hoshiapur; Gursewak Singh Dhillon of village Deel, Harbans Singh Sidhi of village Burj Littan; Sarabjit Singh Sandhar of village Balio; Pardeep Singh of village Neela Megh Singh, all in Ludhiana; Lehmber Singh of village Mehsampur; Ranjit Singh Aujla of village Muthada Kalan; Sukhraj Singh Kang of village Billi Choharmi; Amarjit Singh Kooner of village Mehmadpur; and Niraankar Singh Dhillon of village Mandi, all in Jalandhar; Amarinder Singh Laddi of village Jhanjoti in Amritsar and Ranjit Kaur Kahlo, the wife of Anoop Singh Kahlon who was arrested first in the synthetic drug case and had named Bhola.

“We even sent Letters Rogatory (LRs), a judicial request, along with names and addresses of these persons to both UK and Canada government so that they could be extradited to India for joining the investigation but no response has been received till date,” another ED official said. He said the Union government must take up the matter with both the countries.

“Investigation in the Bhola drug case cannot be completed till the time all these are not brought here,” the official said, adding that though the process of extradition is lengthy as a local trial us held in the country where they are based “but if Indian government wants, the process can be fast tracked”.

These persons came under the ED scanner during the investigation in Bhola drug case in which 100s of people were questioned and more than six dozen chargesheeted.

A special CBI court in February this year sentenced Bhola, a former international wrestler and sacked deputy superintendent of police (DSP) to 24 years in jail in the multi-crore drug racket, busted by Punjab Police in 2013. Besides Bhola, the CBI court had convicted 21 other, including NRIs Anoop Khalon, Sukhjit Singh Sukha, Kulwinder Rocky, Kuldeep Singh, Sandeep Singh, Satinder Dhama, Bhola’s driver Davinder Singh Happy, Vsawa Singh, Amritsar-based hotelier Dev Raj Behal, New Delhi-based businessman Rakesh Sadhu, industrialists Jagjit Singh Chahal, Gurjeet Gabba, his manager Suresh Kumar, Davinder Kant, Manpreet, Gabbar Singh, Kulbir Singh, Harpreet Singh, Baljinder Singh, Sachin Sandhu and Kulvir.

In this case, properties worth Rs 200 crore have been attached by the ED till date.

In 2004, Bhola was dismissed from the post of DSP after poppy husk was recovered from him. In 2013, he was arrested for smuggling pseudoephedrine, a synthetic drug, from India to variousother countries.

Police probe revealed that Bhola had amassed properties worth crores by smuggling drugs. At that time, Punjab Police had pegged the entire racket to be worth around Rs 6,000 crore and named Bhola as its kingpin.

Amarinder, meanwhile, has also directed the state police chief to deal strictly with officers assisting drug traffickers in the state. He has asked the head of the Special Task Force, constituted to combat drug menace, to identify and take strict action against such police officers.