Jammu, 08 Nov : Choudhary Lal Singh, the former minister and chairman of the Dogra Swabhimaan Sangthan, was taken to the Jammu government medical college and hospital for a routine medical check-up on Wednesday. After a night in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), officials reported that Singh underwent an ECG test and had his blood pressure checked, which was found to be high. Following the medical tests, Singh will be returned to the ED office for further questioning in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case. The ED formally arrested Lal Singh from the Chowadhi area of Jammu City on Tuesday in connection with a case registered against an educational trust run by his wife and former MLA, Kanta Andotra, under PMLA.
The anti-corruption court in Jammu had dismissed Lal Singh’s anticipatory bail application on Tuesday. However, his wife and daughter, Kanta Andotra and Kranti Singh, were granted an extension of their interim anticipatory bail until November 30 with a directive to cooperate with the investigation agency. The trio had moved separate applications seeking pre-arrest bail for alleged offenses under the PMLA. Choudhary Lal Singh underwent questioning by the ED on Saturday and Monday. In October, the ED conducted searches in Jammu and its adjoining areas as part of a money laundering probe against the educational trust of Kanta Andotra and a former government official related to alleged irregularities in land purchase for the trust. The money laundering case is based on a CBI chargesheet filed in October 2021, which alleged criminal connivance in the issuance of land between January 4 and January 7, 2011, without mentioning details regarding a violation of the ceiling limit under the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976, which gave an undue pecuniary advantage to the trust. The ED’s investigation into the case continues.
