Punjab: ED conducts raids against former SAD MLA's liquor factory in water pollution case

Jalandhar: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday conducted searches against a Punjab-based liquor company promoted by former SAD MLA Deep Malhotra as part of a money laundering probe linked to a case of alleged contamination of soil and groundwater in Ferozepur district, official sources said.

Seven premises of the liquor company and some other entities located in Punjab, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh were raided by the federal probe agency.

The company - Malbros International Pvt. Ltd. - is "owned and controlled" by Deep Malhotra, a liquor baron of the state, and his son Gautam Malhotra, and their family. The business entity is part of the Oasis Group of companies, the sources said.

Gautam Malhotra was arrested by the ED in February last year in the Delhi excise policy linked money laundering case.

It is alleged that a factory of the liquor company of the Malhotras contaminated soil and groundwater in and around its facility in Zira Tehsil of Ferozepur district by dumping industrial effluents and discharging them into the ground through borewells.

According to the ED, this caused ground and water pollution up to 4 km periphery of the manufacturing unit.

This issue was also raised in Parliament, following which the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) along with the Central Ground Water Board visited the factory in Zira.

According to sources, the inspection report mentioned the "violation" of environmental norms by the factory on multiple grounds.

The Punjab Pollution Control Board later lodged a criminal complaint against the company for violating various provisions of the Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act of 1974, they said.

Locals and farmers of the affected villages had also protested against the factory, the sources added.

Following this agitation, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had in January, 2023 ordered the immediate closure of the factory.