Punjab woman ex-MLA held while selling drugs

Satkar was behind the wheels of a luxury car and had come to deliver the heroin after Jaskeerat, arriving in a separate vehicle, had first collected the payment. The deal had been fixed for Rs 2.5 lakh.

A police personnel also sustained injury when his feet came under car’s tyres as Satkar allegedly tried to flee. She also allegedly hit and damaged the car of a “witness”, while trying to flee.

Kaur was the MLA from the Ferozepur Rural constituency from 2017 to 2022. She joined the BJP in 2022 after the Congress denied her a ticket to contest the Assembly elections.

At the time of the filing of this report, police were carrying out searches at her Sunny Enclave residence in Kharar from where they recovered another 28 grams of heroin apart from Rs 1.56 lakh in cash and some gold ornaments. Jaskeerat, a resident of Ferozepur’s Behbal Khurd village, had been residing at the ex-MLA’s residence, Gill said.

Addressing a press conference, Gill said police also recovered four vehicles and several registration plates of Delhi and Haryana, indicating that these were being used in the drug supply racket.

The ANTF claim to have in their possession call recordings where former MLA is allegedly head discussing sale of drugs and the ‘purity’ of the contraband smuggled from across the border.

IG Gill told reporters that the anti-narcotics task force received reliable inputs from a source, who claimed that he had been purchasing drugs from Satkar and alleged that the former MLA was putting pressure on him to start selling drugs.

“The source also gave call recordings to the ANTF, which clearly indicated that drug sales were being discussed,” IG Gill said, added that he also gave two numbers, which were put under surveillance. “During surveillance it emerged that Satkar and Jaskeerat were talking about sale of drugs,” he said.

Acting on the information, an operation was planned and the “source” was sent to a predetermined location as a decoy to buy the drugs from the accused. As the former legislator arrived to deliver the drugs, police teams moved in and apprehended her.

During the operation, a policeman also sustained injuries when Satkar tried to flee “and the tyre of the car ran over his foot”.

He said a case under sections 21 (Punishment for contravention in relation to manufactured drugs and preparations) and 29 (Punishment for abetment and criminal conspiracy) of NDPS Act has been registered in Mohali and more sections would be added in connection with the injury sustained by the policeman, Gill said.

In 2012 Punjab elections, Congress had fielded Satkar from Ferozepur Rural seat and Rahul Gandhi had addressed a rally in her favour. However, she had lost the election by 160 votes to Joginder Singh Jindu of Shiromani Akali Dal whom she went on to defeat in 2017 election. In 2022, after Congress denied her ticket, she joined BJP.

Reacting to the development, AAP leader Neel Garg slammed the Congress and the BJP, alleging that it was another example of “how deeply these parties are involved with the drug smugglers”.

Garg accused the Congress, BJP and Akali Dal of perpetuating drug smuggling in Punjab.

“The roots of drug trafficking are deep in Punjab, and these parties have turned a blind eye to the destruction caused by addiction,” he claimed.

Satkar and her husband Jasmail Singh alias Ladi Gehri were arrested by the Vigilance Bureau in a disproportionate assets case in September 2023. They remained in judicial custody at Mansa central prison for 114 days before the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted them bail in January this year.

As per the Vigilance Bureau probe, Satkar allegedly spent 170% more than her known sources of income ever since she was elected an MLA in 2017. As per the investigators, “When Satkar was elected as a legislator, she and her husband had assets worth 27.05 lakh. After the allegations of corruption, the Vigilance Bureau checked the income and expenditure details of the ex-MLA and her husband from April 1, 2017, when she was elected from Ferozepur Rural to next five years till March 30, 2022.”

On June 7 this year, a Ferozepur district court framed charges against them.