Ex-Cong MLA arrested from Delhi's five-star hotel in Rs 1,500 crore money laundering case

New Delhi, May 5 (IANS) Dharam Singh Chhokar, former Congress legislator from Haryana, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) team from one of the leading five-star hotels in the national capital on Monday.

The former MLA from Haryana’s Samalkha has been arrested in a money laundering case worth Rs 1,500 crore.

Chhokar has been under the ED scanner for quite some time over illegal land dealings and duping the common public by fraudulent means.

The case allegedly pertains to a housing project in Gurugram, touted as one under Deendayal Awas Yojana, where he collected funds from the public but didn’t deliver the housing units. Chhokar and his associates are accused of siphoning off public funds to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore for personal use.

According to ED sources, the former MLA and his realty firm duped and hoodwinked at least 2,000 investors, who put their money in his housing project.

The arrest of a former legislator in a filmy fashion also raises curiosity. The ED team arrested him from a leading five-star hotel in the national capital, after ascertaining his presence there.

Notably, Chhokar’s son Sikandar was also arrested in a money laundering case earlier. Properties worth over Rs 44 crore linked to Chhokar were also seized by the ED team in December last year.

The move assumes significance as the two-time Samalkha legislator is considered close to former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda. His arrest in the Rs 1500 money laundering case is set to send political temperatures soaring, with the BJP likely to step up the heat on Congress for ‘sheltering’ land grabbers and looters.

Notably, Robert Vadra, Priyanka Gandhi’s husband, is already facing the ED heat in a Haryana land case and was also recently grilled by the agency for 'making a moolah' with 'illicit' land deals, during the Congress regime.

--IANS

mr/dpb