Former J&K minister Lal Singh connived with official to get land transferred in name of wife’s trust: ED

New Delhi : The ED on Friday alleged former Jammu and Kashmir minister Choudhary Lal Singh “connived” with a revenue department official in 2011 to “forcibly” transfer a land in the name of an educational trust run by his wife and a part of this plot was used to run a DPS school.

The former MP was arrested by the federal probe agency on November 7 in Jammu. He is in ED custody at present.

The money laundering case of the ED, filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stems from a CBI FIR and charge sheet filed against Singh’s wife Kanta Andotra (chairperson of RBET or RB Education Trust) and a former ‘patwari’ (revenue official), Ravinder Singh.

The probe found, the agency claimed, Singh “in connivance with the then revenue official posted at Kathua in 2011 got transferred the said land forcibly in the name of RBET.”

“A part of this land so acquired is being used in running a DPS School. According to the investigation, the R B Education Trust was found to have acquired land in excess of permissible limit of 100 standard kanals, to the extent of 328 kanals,” it said.

Singh is also the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party (DSSP) chairman.