Kathua/Jammu, October 17 : Demonstrations erupted in Kathua as workers from the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party (DSSP) expressed their discontent, while the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches related to an educational trust associated with former minister Lal Singh’s wife. Allegations arose that this move was a strategy employed by the BJP to silence Singh, who currently serves as the chairman of the DSSP.
The Enforcement Directorate conducted searches at eight locations across Jammu, Kathua, and Pathankot in Punjab as part of their investigation into the RB educational trust. The probe focuses on Kanta Andotra, the chairperson of the trust and Lal Singh’s spouse, along with Ravinder S, a former revenue official.
News of the ED’s search at Lal Singh’s residence in Kathua prompted a gathering of DSSP workers, who voiced their protests outside the house.
“This act is deplorable and disgraceful. It’s an attempt to suppress Lal Singh’s voice. First, they utilized the CBI, and now they’re resorting to the ED against him. It’s an affront to the Dogras by both the Union Territory administration and the BJP,” stated a DSSP leader to reporters.
Protesters vowed that their party would not yield to the BJP’s pressure and that they would continue to oppose it.
The money laundering case stems from a CBI charge sheet filed in October 2021, which alleged criminal collusion in the allocation of land between January 4 and January 7, 2011, without specifying the details of the breach of the 100 standard kanals ceiling limit set by Section 14 of the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976. This led to the trust obtaining several parcels of land amounting to approximately 329 Kanals through three gift deeds executed on January 5 and January 7, 2011, as per the CBI charge sheet.
Sources indicated that the ED has discovered that the trust actively utilizes the surplus land for operating DPS Schools and engaging in other commercial activities. The premises targeted in Tuesday’s search encompass those associated with the trust, its chairperson, land donors, power of attorney holders acting on behalf of land donors, witnesses who executed the deeds, and the former patwari who issued fards for enabling the RB educational trust to execute the deeds unlawfully.
