• Source:JND
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Sukhpal Singh Khaira News: Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira was sent to 14-day judicial custody on Saturday by a court in Punjab's Fazilka in connection with a 2015 drugs case, reports news agency PTI. Khaira was produced in court in Jalalabad after his two-day police remand ended on Saturday amid tight security arrangements, officials said, as quoted by news agency PTI.

Khaira, who is an MLA from Bholath, was arrested on Thursday from his Chandigarh residence. Punjab Police arrested him following an investigation conducted by a special investigation team led by Deputy Inspector General of Police Swapan Sharma in the 2015 drugs case.

The case was registered in 2015 at Jalalabad in Fazilka. Nine people, including Gurdev Singh, who was allegedly a close aide of Khaira, were booked in the case and later convicted under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

According to news agency PTI, police had recovered 2 kg of heroin, 24 gold biscuits, one country-made pistol, a.315-bore pistol, and two Pakistani SIM cards from them.

In 2017, the Supreme Court stayed the trial court proceedings against Khaira, who was summoned as an additional accused in the matter. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2021 on charges of money laundering linked to the 2015 drugs case. He was granted bail in 2022. The top court quashed the summons order against Khaira in 2023 in the drugs case.

Meanwhile, the president of the grand old party, Mallikarjun Kharge, said on Thursday that the party does not tolerate injustice. Kharge, however, said that he doesn't have more details of the matter as he was in Bengaluru and came to poll-bound Chhattisgarh to attend a pre-planned event.

"I am seeking details on it...If somebody does injustice, they don't stay for long. If they do injustice with us then we won't tolerate it," Kharge told reporters here. 

As per the chargesheet, Khaira was closely associated with Gurdev Singh, the leader of the Fazilka drug smuggling racket, and is accused of having sheltered him.

The primary accusations against Khaira include supporting an international gang of smugglers, having sheltered him, receiving financial benefits from drug traffickers, and enjoying the proceeds of crime.