The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 03

The International News Weekly July 14, 2017 | Toronto 10
Former Akali minister named in drug
racket, will Majithia be the next?
The Canadian Parvasi
Will former Punjab revenue
minister Bikram Majithia,
who was questioned
by the Enforcement Directorate
in 2014 for his alleged
role in Punjab’s biggest-ever
synthetic drug racket of Rs
6,000 crore unearthed in 2013,
be now put in the dock?
In its fifth supplementary
chargesheet in the drug
racket, the Enforcement
Directorate on Wednesday
named former Akali minister
Swarn Singh Phillaur,
his son Damanvir and former
chief parliamentary
secretary Avinash Chander.
Since Phillaur and his
son are the first political
persons to be named in the
chargesheet, will Majithia
be the next?
As per the chargesheet,
while Phillaur and his son
allegedly laundered around
Rs 5 crore from the drug
trade, Avinash Chander also
received Rs 45 lakh.
The synthetic drug racket
was unearthed in March
2013 when the Fatehgarh
Sahib police arrested Canada-based
NRI Anoop Singh
Swarn Singh Phillaur Avinash Chander Damanvir Singh Phillaur
Kahlon and his aide Kulwinder
Singh and recovered
26 kg heroin from them. The
police also nabbed another
Canada-based NRI Manpreet
Singh alias Manni Gill and
his relative Gabbar Singh
and recover two kg of heroin
and Rs 1 crore hawala cash
from them.
Further investigations
led to the arrest of the alleged
kingpin and dismissed
Punjab Police DSP Jagdish
Bhola.
Bhola revealed the alleged
involvement of Majithia
in the drug cartel while
speaking to media persons
outside the Mohali court in
January 2014.
Being the brother-in-law
of Deputy Chief Minister
Sukhbir Badal, Majithia
was never interrogated by
the police.
A probe by the special investigation
(SIT) of the Punjab
Police also gave a clean
chit to Majithia.
Sukhbir defended Majithia,
alleging that Bhola
named his brother-in-law in
the drug racket at the instigation
of the Congress.
During the last Punjab
election campaign, the alleged
involvement of Majithia
in the drug cartel became
a big issue, with the
Aam Aadmi Party promising
to put him behind bars
within days of coming to
power.
Capt Amarinder Singh
also promised to order a reinvestigation
into the SIT clean
chit to Majithia. But nothing
has happened, though Capt
Amarinder Singh has been
the chief minister now for
over three months.
Circular on linking Aadhaar to property cards fake
Indian Govt. officials have
said the central government had
not issued any circular asking to
link Aadhar number to property
card.
In a written statement, Chief
Secretary of Maharashtra, Mr.
Sumit Mullick said the letter attributed
to the cabinet secretariat
on digitalization of land records
and linking the same to Aadhaar
numbers had been deemed
fake by the state government. He
stressed there was no such plan
in the offing.The district information
offices in the state had
issued a circular to this effect to
the revenue department. But the
revenue department officials had
objected saying digitalization of
land records was incomplete and
so it was not possible to follow
the central order.
Officials of the revenue department
stated that the letter
was on a watermark sheet and
was attributed to the under-secretary
of the Government of India.
The move was aimed at taking
appropriate action against
those not linking properties to
Aadhaar number under the benami
transaction act.
The letter, dated June 15,
asked chief secretaries, additional
chief secretaries of all
states and Union territories, Lt
Governor of Delhi and secretary
of NitiAayog to ensure digitalization
of all land records from
1950 and linking the information
to property owners. The letter
stated that all documents of land
records, mutation records, sale
and purchase records from 1950
of any immovable property, including
agricultural land, needed
to be done before August 14 this
year. The letter declared fake
also mentioned that properties
not kinked should be considered
for appropriate action under the
Benami Transaction (Prohibitions)
Amended Act, 1916.
(Source: The Times Of India)
Scanned by CamScanner
Newly published book of Mr. RPS Walia, LL.B., Ex P.C.S.
on NRI’s Related Matters. He can be contacted at
647-739-2643
Fake letter circulated on social media last month.