ED Attaches Sukhpal Khaira’s Chandigarh Residence, Congress MLA Calls It ‘Character Assassination’
The ED attached Punjab Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira's property worth ₹3.82 crore. The ED alleges Khaira received the amount to provide protection and passage for smuggling drugs.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has attached Punjab Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira's house in Chandigarh, valued at ₹3.82 crore, as part of an ongoing investigation into a drug trafficking-linked money laundering case.
According to the federal agency, an order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was issued on 8 March to provisionally attach the property, located in Chandigarh’s Sector 5. The ED alleged that Khaira acquired and utilised proceeds of crime amounting to ₹3.82 crore, which were generated from an international drug syndicate operated by his close associate Gurdev Singh and his overseas-based accomplices, news agency PTI reported.
Reacting to the ED’s action, Khaira took to X and stated, “I've just learnt through media that ED has attached my Chandigarh residence, about which I want to clarify that I have received no notice about this from ED or any other government source. Even if the news is correct, I should have been notified instead of the news being released to the media.”
Terming the development “pure character assassination,” Khaira further alleged that the BJP was “misusing the ED to witch-hunt opposition leaders across India.”
Khaira Received ₹3.82 Crore For Providing Protection And Passage For Smuggling Drugs: ED
The 60-year-old legislator won the 2017 Punjab assembly elections from the Bholath seat in Kapurthala district on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket. He resigned from AAP in January 2019 and launched his own outfit, the Punjab Ekta Party. He later rejoined the Congress and won the 2022 state elections from Bholath.
The ED stated that Khaira allegedly received cash payments of ₹3.82 crore from Gurdev Singh in return for providing protection and passage for smuggling narcotic drugs. The agency also claimed that Singh had funded Khaira’s election campaigns using proceeds from the illegal drug trade.
Khaira was arrested by the ED in November 2021 as part of the investigation, and a chargesheet was filed against him and Gurdev Singh before a special PMLA court in Mohali in January 2022. The court framed charges in the case in October 2023.
According to the ED, Gurdev Singh served as the chairman of the Market Committee in Dhilwan, Kapurthala district. The agency further stated that between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2020, Khaira and his family incurred expenses amounting to ₹6.61 crore, including ₹3.82 crore in unaccounted expenditure—exceeding their known sources of income. This was reportedly discovered after the ED seized handwritten notebooks during searches conducted in March 2021, as per PTI.
The money laundering case originates from an FIR filed by the Punjab Police against Gurdev Singh and others. A local court in Punjab convicted Gurdev Singh and eight others on drug trafficking charges in 2017, the ED said.
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