The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided eight premises in Jammu, Kathua and Pathankot on Tuesday as part of a money laundering probe against an educational trust run by ex-minister Lal Singh’s wife, Kanta Andotra, and former revenue official Ravinder S.
The raids are linked to an October 2021 charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which alleged that the trust acquired 329 kanals of land in violation of the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act, 1976. The CBI charge sheet claimed that the trust was given undue pecuniary advantage in the issuance of the land between January 4 and 7, 2011, without mentioning details in respect of violation of the ceiling limit of 100 standard kanals.
The ED sources said that the excess land is being actively used by the trust for running DPS Schools and other commercial activities. The premises being covered in Tuesday’s search include those related to the trust, chairperson, land donors, power of attorney holders on behalf of land donors, witnesses who had executed the deeds and the then patwari who wrongfully issued fards for letting RB educational trust execute the deeds.
The raids are the latest development in a series of investigations into alleged corruption by former government officials and politicians in Jammu and Kashmir. The ED has been particularly active in investigating money laundering cases in the region.
