Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Oct 17: In a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against the RB Educational Trust, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at eight locations in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday.
These searches were executed by the federal agency’s officials in the Jammu, Kathua, and Pathankot areas and are related to a case under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
On September 12, 2020, the CBI filed a First Information Report (FIR) concerning the matter.
Additionally, on October 28, 2021, the CBI filed a chargesheet in the case.
The chargesheet documented offenses committed by Kanta Andotra, who served as the chairperson of RB Educational Trust, and Ravinder Singh, who was the Patwari of Patwar Halqa Karandi Khurd and Muthi Hardo in 2011. These individuals, in a collaborative criminal act, issued three land ownership records (fards) covering more than 329 kanals of land between January 4, 2011, and January 7, 2011. Importantly, they failed to mention the exceeding of the ceiling limit of 100 standard kanals imposed by Section 14 of the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act 1976. This omission resulted in the trust receiving an unjust financial advantage.
“On the basis the the three fards, the trust acquired multiple pieces of land approx 329 Kanals vide three gift deeds executed on January 5, 2011 and January 7, 2011,” said the ED.
The key individuals implicated in the case are Lal Singh, a former Member of Parliament (MP) and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), Kanta Andotra (wife of Lal Singh, also a former MLA and the trust’s chairperson), and the person who was Patwari at that time.
Throughout the Enforcement Directorate’s investigation, it has been revealed that the surplus land is actively utilized by the trust for operating DPS Schools and engaging in various commercial ventures.
The locations subjected to the search operations encompass properties linked to the trust, its chairperson, the individuals who donated the land, those holding Power of Attorney on behalf of the land donors, the witnesses who participated in the deeds, and the Patwari who incorrectly issued the fards that enabled RB Educational Trust to carry out these transactions, the agency further mentioned.
