Chandigarh: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Jalandhar zonal team on Friday conducted raids at four locations in Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Barnala, and Mumbai in connection with the illegal sale of drugs and related money laundering through 22 drug de-addiction centres in Punjab.
Officials said the searches began on Friday morning based on new facts that emerged during the investigation. The case was initially handled by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau before being taken over by the ED, which is now probing financial irregularities linked to the illegal sale of buprenorphine and naloxone tablets.
The case came into focus seven months ago when the Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested Dr Amit Bansal, a Chandigarh resident, for allegedly misusing Adnoc-N tablets meant for patients at 22 private de-addiction centres and selling them illegally.
Ludhiana-based drug inspector Ruppreet Kaur, who was also named as a co-accused, was under arrest proceedings at that time.
Investigators found that the tablets were being sold to drug addicts outside India instead of patients listed at the de-addiction centres. During the vigilance operation, officials recovered thousands of tablets and around Rs 90,000 in cash from Simran Hospital and other centres in Ludhiana.
Later, cases were also registered against Dr Bansal’s de-addiction centres in Jalandhar and Patiala.
