Bhola drug cartel case: Special court convicts all 17 accused

A special court in Punjab on Tuesday convicted all the 17 accused, including a dismissed deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and former wrestler Jagdish Singh Bhola, in an 11-year-old money laundering case.

Of the total 23 accused in the case, four died during the trial while two were declared proclaimed offenders by the court. This is the biggest conviction, in terms of the number of accused, for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) so far, said people in the know.

While Bhola has been awarded ten years imprisonment, the co-accused have been sentenced ranging from three to ten years.


The special PMLA court in Mohali also slapped ₹50,000 as fine on Bhola. If Bhola fails to pay the fine, he will have to undergo a further imprisonment of one year.

The ED had launched an investigation under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, in 2013 on the basis of eight different FIRs registered at different police stations in Punjab. The federal agency had provisionally attached properties/assets worth approximately Rs 95 crores. The agency had arrested Bhola in 2014.

Those convicted on Tuesday include two women, including Bhola's wife Gurpreet Kaur, who have been sentenced for three years.