Troubles mount for Chowdhary Lal Singh as ED steps in
Chowdhary Lal Singh, Jammu region’s prominent opposition voice, was taken in by surprise this morning when sleuths of Enforcement Directorate raided several several premises linked to his family and a family run educational institution in Kathua, Jammu and Pathankot.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted searches on eight premises situated at different locations in Jammu and Kashmir in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against RB Educational Trust.
Chowdhary Lal Singh’s wife and former MLA from Basohli, Kanta Andotra, is the chairperson of R.B. Educational Trust which is facing a CBI investigation in a land allotment case since 2020.
The federal agency’s sleuths carried out these searches in Jammu, Kathua and Pathankot regions. The raids are based on a case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
What is the case under probe?
The CBI filed a First Information Report (FIR) in the matter on September 12, 2020.
A chargesheet was also filed by the CBI in the case on October 28, 2021. The chargesheet established offences committed by one Kanta Andotra, the chairperson of RB Educational Trust, and Ravinder Singh, then Patwari of Patwar Halqa Karandi Khurd and Muthi Hardo in 2011, who in criminal connivance issued three fards of more than 329 kanals of land during January 4, 2011, to January 7, 2011, without mentioning details in respect of violation of ceiling limit of 100 standard kanals imposed under Section 14 of the Jammu and Kashmir Agrarian Reforms Act 1976 thereby giving undue pecuniary advantage to trust.
“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 main persons involved include one Lal Singh, ex-MP and ex-MLA, and Kanta Andotra, wife of Lal Singh (also ex-MLA and chairperson of the trust) and the then Patwari.
During the course of the investigation by the ED, it has come to the fore that the excess land is being actively used by the trust for running DPS Schools and other commercial activities.
The premises being covered in searches 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, added the agency.
Who is Chowdhary Lal Singh?
A firebrand political leader who connects strongly with the Dogra sentiment of Jammu, Chowdhary Lal Singh was first elected to Legislative Assembly in 1996 from Basohli Constituency on All India Congress (Tiwari) mandate. Later on, the AICT merged in the Congress and Lal Singh figured out as a notable face in the Congress hierarchy in Jammu and Kashmir.
He contested and won 2002 Assembly elections on Congress ticket from Basohli and was subsequently appointed a Minister in Mufti Mohammad Sayeed cabinet in January 2003.
In 2004, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kathua-Udhampur-Doda Constituency, a victory which he repeated in 2009 as well. All these years, he remained a staunch and vocal critic of the BJP. At one point shortly before 2014 elections, a video in which Singh is seen making personal remarks against BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi went viral.
In 2014, the Congress party launched its veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad as Lok Sabha candidate for Kathua-Udhampur-Doda seat, which was held twice by Singh.
Chowdhary Lal Singh resisted this move vociferously and said publicly that a Hindu seat was being gifted away to a Muslim candidate.
Even as Singh remained away from the poll scene, Ghulam Nabi Azad lost the seat to Jitendra Singh of BJP. It was a shock not only for the Congress but also all political observers, as a doctor with very little experience in politics and contesting an election first time ever defeated the Congress party veteran whose parliamentary experience already spanned over four decades with several cabinet tenures and a stint as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
Few months later, Chowdhary Lal Singh joined the BJP and won 2014 Assembly election on party ticket from Basohli. He was subsequently appointed cabinet Minister in Mufti Sayeed’s PDP-BJP government in March 2015.
Three years later, Chowdhary was sacked from Mehbooba Mufti government together with his BJP and cabinet colleague Chander Prakash Ganga, in wake of Kathua rape and murder controversy in which the duo was blamed of supporting the rape accused.
Lal Singh soon fell out with BJP and two months later the Mehbooba Mufti government collapsed after BJP withdrew support.
The same year, Chowdhary Lal Singh launched his own political party called the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan and contested Lok Sabha elections on both seats of Jammu province in March 2014. He lost security deposit on both.
Chowdhary warmed up to the Congress around Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, but National Conference leaders, including Omar Abdullah, had these moves smashed after they invoked the Kathua rape and murder controversy.
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