Crackdown on Waris Punjab De: Probe looks at deposits of Rs 40 cr, some in name of farm protest victims’ relatives

Over Rs 35 crore, sources said, had been received by Amritpal’s close aide Daljeet Singh Kalsi who was arrested as part of the crackdown on the outfit.

The years for which financial transactions have been scanned so far vary in cases of these individuals, sources said. “A few began receiving huge amounts of money recently while others had been receiving it for the last few years,” sources said.

It is learnt that those under the scanner include Kalsi, Gurmeet Singh Bukkanwala (district president of Waris Punjab De, Moga), Sukhchain Singh Dhaliwal aka Khalsa (district president of WPD, Barnala), Gurpreet Singh (district president of WPD, Tarn Taran) and Avtar Singh Aulakh (district president of WPD, Sangrur).

In the majority of these transactions, sources said, money was received via cash deposits, Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Another pattern observed in these transactions, sources said, was that large sums of money (totalling approx Rs 4-5 crore) had been withdrawn through ATM transactions over a period of time.

Sources said that the transactions were made from at least 12 different countries.

The investigation agencies are also trying to look at Amritpal’s financial transactions.

An Indian passport holder, he lived in Dubai where he had worked as Manager in the Sandhu Cargo Transport Company. He lived in the UAE from February 2012 until June 2022. On June 11, 2022, he travelled to Georgia and stayed there until August 20, 2022.

Three SUVs in Amritpal’s cavalcade – a Mercedes, an Isuzu and a Ford Endeavour – have been seized by Punjab police who are probing how the registered owners of these vehicles purchased and “gifted” them to the WPD leader, sources said.

Investigation agencies have also found that out of five companies in which Kalsi was director, three were struck off while two remain active.