Dehradun (Uttarakhand): Following court permission, a special team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) will interrogate international drug traffickers Banmeet Narula and his brother Parvinder in jail. The court has directed the Superintendent of Sudhowala Jail to make the necessary arrangements for recording the statements of the accused in accordance with the law and the Uttarakhand Jail Manual. The ED had submitted a legal application to record the statements of Banmeet Singh and Parvinder under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
The Narula brothers are residents of Haldwani, and Banmeet Narula, an international drug trafficker, had been active in Europe and the US for the past decade and a half. He is accused of conducting illegal drug trafficking worth millions of dollars on the dark web market. In 2019, the US government became aware of Narula’s activities. He was arrested in London in 2019 and subsequently extradited to the US. There, a Colombian court tried Banmeet and in 2022 sentenced him to 7 years imprisonment and a fine of $5 million.
Banmeet Narula was granted bail by a US court last April and deported to India. However, upon arriving in India, he went underground. When the ED learned of Banmeet Narula’s arrival in India, the agency raided his house on April 26. After hours of questioning and investigation, the ED arrested Banmeet’s brother, Parvinder. On Friday, Special Public Prosecutor Deep Singh and Legal Advisor Shalini Singh appeared in court and stated that the accused Banmeet Singh and his brother were arrested by the ED in 2024. Currently, both are in judicial custody at Sudhowala Jail.
A prosecution complaint has already been filed before this court against Banmeet Singh, Parvinder Singh, and Amarpreet Kaur Chawla. The remaining proceeds of the crime, amounting to approximately 4,250 Bitcoins, are visible on the blockchain, and efforts are underway to seize them under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It is also necessary to record and investigate the statement of Banmeet Narula. It is worth noting that Banmeet Narula had been involved in the illegal drug trade in the United States for the past 15 years. Banmeet and his brother Parminder are residents of Haldwani, Uttarakhand, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has already arrested both of them. The ED has also attached assets worth ₹9.67 crore belonging to the two brothers.
