Jammu: Former Jammu and Kashmir Minister Lal Singh has been arrested in a case of money laundering by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) after his anticipatory bail application was dismissed by an Anti-Corruption Court, an ED official said.
The Chairman of the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party was arrested on Tuesday evening in a case of money laundering a day after he was questioned by the ED.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in land purchase for an educational trust.
Singh’s wife Kanta Andotra told reporters in Jammu that she is the Chairperson of the trust and they are trying to harass her husband.
The official also said that the former minister tried his best to “dodge” the agency and “evade arrest”.
Hearing the news of Singh’s arrest, a group of his supporters, led by Andotra, assembled outside the ED office in Narwal and tried to enter but were prevented by CRPF personnel.
Andotra started weeping, asking for permission to meet her husband. Police reinforcements were rushed to the scene to maintain law and order, officials said.
Singh, a two-time MP and three-time MLA, switched from the Congress to the BJP in 2014 and was also a minister in the previous PDP-BJP government in Jammu and kashmir which collapsed in June 2018 after the national party pulled out of the alliance.
Several months before the fall of the government, Singh resigned from the BJP and floated the DSSP following an uproar over his participation in a rally held in support of the accused in a rape and murder case involving an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in January 2018.
