CHANDIGARH: The Enforcement Directorate on Monday arrested former Haryana Congress MLA Dharam Singh Chhoker in connection with a money laundering case.
Dharam Singh will be produced before a court in Gurugram today.
Police said that the ex-legislator had been taken into custody from a hotel in Delhi on Sunday night.
Chhoker, his sons Sikandar Chhoker and Vikas Chhoker face charges of cheating and forgery. Chhoker and his sons' companies had allegedly collected crores from around 1,500 home buyers under the affordable housing scheme which promised houses in Sector 68 of Gurugram; however, the project, which was set to be completed by 2022, never materialised.
The firms contracted for construction allegedly siphoned off over Rs 616 crore from investors. The home buyers protested against Chokker and his sons' company Mahira Group, sources said.
Sources further stated that preliminary investigations by the ED revealed that the company directors recorded fake construction expenditures and the cash equivalent of the expenses was received back from Mahira group entities with fake bills and invoices.
Sikander was arrested by the ED in the case and is currently on bail; Vikas is absconding.
The money-laundering case stems from a Gurugram Police FIR filed against Sai Aaina Farms and associated companies in 2023.
“A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court has issued multiple non-bailable warrants against Dharam Singh Chhoker and Vikas Chhoker. The agency had issued a proclamation against them and directed them to appear before the court on May 19,” the ED had said in March.
Chhokar had been twice MLA from Samalkha in Haryana first time in 2009 on the ticket of Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) and later joined the Congress. In 2014 he lost the elections and was again elected as legislator on the Congress ticket from Samalkha in 2019. In the October last year’s assembly polls the Congress had fielded Chhoker from Samalkha again but he lost the elections. He is considered a close aide of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
In March, the ED had issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and attached about three acres of agricultural land, 2,487 square meters of commercial plots and eight residential flats located in Delhi, Faridabad, and Panipat in connection with the case. Besides fixed and bank deposits worth Rs 96 lakh were also attached. The ED auctioned the assets worth Rs 44.55 crore linked to Chhoker, his sons Vikas and Sikandar, and their company Sai Aaina Farms Private Limited.
Last year, the agency had attached the family’s assets worth Rs 36 crore in connection with the same probe.