ED picks AAP MLA from party meeting, arrests him in Rs 40-cr bank fraud-linked money laundering case

Gajjanmajra had skipped multiple summons issued to him in the past and hence, was detained and then arrested after questioning at ED’s Jalandhar office, the source added.

The Aam Aadmi Party disassociated itself from the case saying Gajjanmajra was named in the case much before he joined the party and became an MLA. Party spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang, however, saw BJP hand in the way Gajjanmajra was picked up from a public meeting by the ED, saying it was tactic to defame the party.

The ED action against Gajjanmajra comes more than a year after the agency, in September 2022, conducted raids on several premises linked to him and some others as part of this PMLA investigation that stems from a March 2022 FIR filed by the CBI (Anti-Corruption Branch, Chandigarh). The ED team had seized Rs 32 lakh cash, some mobile phones and hard drives during the raids.

Prior to that, in May last year, the CBI conducted raids on premises linked to Gajjanmajra and had claimed to have recovered Rs 16.57 lakh in cash, some foreign currency, property documents, several bank accounts and other incriminating documents.

The CBI had conducted the raid after registering an FIR on a complaint from Bank of India’s Model town branch in Ludhiana against Tara Corporation Limited (TCL) — renamed Malaudh Agro Limited on September 24, 2018 — its directors Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, Balwant Singh, Kulwant Singh, Tejinder Singh, their associates and other sister concerns in Ludhiana, Malerkotla, Khanna, Payal and Dhuri.

As per the FIR, the Bank of India had sanctioned a loan on cash credit limits aggregating Rs 35 crore to the TCL against hypothecation of stocks and book debts in September 2011 under sole banking arrangement. “The account was also sanctioned an ad hoc limit of Rs 6 crore in February 2014, which is yet to be repaid by the company,” the agency said.

TCL’s account was declared a non-performing asset in March 2014, the ED had said.

It added that the aggregate loan outstanding is Rs 76 crore and Gajjanmajra, Balwant Singh, Kulwant Singh and Tejinder Singh were directors and guarantors in the loan account of TCL.

“When a fresh RoC (Registrar of Companies) search was initiated by the bank in May 2016, it was observed that there was a drastic change in the directors of the company (without intimation to or prior permission of bank) and Kirpal Singh Tiwana, Harish Kumar and Lakhbir Singh had been appointed as directors and principal person Gajjanmajra had resigned from the directorship,” the ED alleged.

Later, Gajjanmjra had also been re-appointed as director of the company on May 25, 2016, it said.

“On the basis of information available, an investigation was initiated against the above-said persons and their associates in order to ascertain the money laundering activities undertaken by them for laundering their proceeds of crime,” the agency added.

A businessman with interests in real estate, education, hospitality, and agro sector, Gajjanmajra is a first time MLA having won from Amargarh in 2022 Assembly polls, defeating his nearest rival Simranjit Singh Mann of SAD (Amritsar) by 6,043 votes. He had joined the AAP in 2020. Prior to that, he was with the Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) and had unsuccessfully contested 2017 Assembly polls. At that time, LIP and AAP were allies. In 2018, the LIP walked out of the alliance after AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal tendered an apology to SAD leader Bikramjeet Singh Majithia.

During the Covid-19-induced lockdown, Gajjanmajra had faced protests in Amargarh as his school had continued to charge fees from the students even though the LIP had urged its office bearers against doing so. The LIP had also sent a notice to Gajjanmajra over the incident. However, instead of replying to the notice, he switched over to the AAP in August 2020.

Meanwhile, Punjab Congress took potshots at the euling AAP in Punjab. “The reality of the AAP, which claims to be ‘kattar imaandar (honest)’, has come to light. The arrest of Amargarh MLA is a clear proof of this. Now what will Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann say,” the Congress said on X.

AAP spokesperson Kang hit back saying Congress “shouldn’t talk on this subject as several of its leaders are facing ED probe, which the party has termed as a political vendetta”.

Kang further said, “The way the ED took him from a public meeting was uncalled for. This seems to be a pressure tactic of the BJP to threaten and pressurise our MLAs. It is an old case which has been going on for the last 10 years. It started much before Gajjanmajra joined the AAP”.

However, Punjab BJP general secretary Anil Sari said, “Kang should tell people if it was the BJP which had asked the AAP MLA to commit a fraud of Rs 40 crore. The MLA had been repeatedly summoned by the ED but he didn’t appear before the agency. This is a party (AAP) which doesn’t believe in the rule of the law”.