Jammu, Nov 14: In a money laundering case, a court in this city on Tuesday gave former Jammu and Kashmir minister Lal Singh an additional five days in the Enforcement Directorate‘s (ED) custody. On November 7, Singh, the head of the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party (DSSP), was taken into custody from a home in Sainik Colony’s Chawadi neighbourhood after a special court denied his request for anticipatory bail. The ED was looking into him in relation to a case involving an educational trust that his wife, the former lawmaker Kanta Andotra, was running.After his seven-day remand expired on Tuesday, Singh was brought before the special court via video conference, according to special public prosecutor Ashwani Khajuria. “The case investigation is just getting started. Citing the court order, Khajuria stated, “Accused is involved in a serious and non-bailable offence; he is remanded to ED custody for a period of five days only from November 14 to 18.”The court instructed the investigating officer to expedite the investigation and ordered the ED to produce the accused on November 18 only via virtual mode. According to Khajuria, the ED has submitted a thorough objection to the accused’s post-arrest bail request in the Jammu principal sessions judge’s court. The Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976 imposes a ceiling limit of 100 standard kanals. The money laundering case stems from an October 2021 charge sheet filed by the CBI in this case, which alleged criminal connivance in the issuance of land between January 4 and January 7, 2011, without mentioning details about violation of the act, thereby giving undue pecuniary advantage to trust.Based on this, the CBI charge sheet stated that the trust obtained several parcels of land totaling approximately 329 kanals through three gift deeds that were executed on January 5 and January 7, 2011.
