Sukhpal Khaira’s alleged ‘links’ to heroin and gold biscuits seized in 2015

Officials said that during the investigation, Khaira’s name had cropped up and they came to know the Congress leader had spoken with Singh 65 times between February 27, 2015, to March 8, 2015, a day before the case was lodged, from the mobile phones of his private secretary and personal security officer.

Singh and eight others were convicted on October 31, 2017, and sent to jail for 20 years and Sukhpal Khaira was summoned by the trial court in Fazilka in the same case in November 2017 as an additional accused.

Khaira, who was the leader of Opposition (LoP) and an Aam Aadmi Party MLA at that time, had alleged there was a conspiracy by his party men behind the incident.

However, his arrest orders were stayed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court but allowed the investigation proceedings to continue.

In July 2018, Sukhpal Khaira was removed as LoP by AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. The next year, he floated his party, the Punjab Democratic Alliance, to contest the Lok Sabha polls but couldn’t win a single seat.

In June 2021, Khaira had joined Congress yet again but in November 2021 he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case linked to an alleged drug and fake passport racket. The Fazilka drug seizure was once again a part of the investigation in this case as well.

Khaira had remained in jail for 75 days and was granted bail ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls in 2022. He contested from Bholath as a Congress candidate and won yet again.

Sources revealed the ED had found that bank transactions of around Rs 4.8 crore had been done in Khaira’s account but he had shown his income as Rs 99 lakh.

In February 2023, however, the Supreme Court had quashed the summon orders of the Fazilka court against Sukhpal Khaira saying the summons couldn’t be issued as the trial court had already concluded the case.

Meanwhile, Khaira remained vocal against the ruling AAP government on social media and even on public platforms.