Former Haryana Congress MLA facing 7 NBWs spotted at Delhi luxury hotel, arrested after dramatic chase
GURGAON: Amid high drama that involved a chase across the lobby of Shangri-La hotel in central Delhi on Sunday night, former Congress MLA Dharam Singh
Chhokar
was arrested by
Enforcement Directorate
, which is investigating him for money laundering.
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Sources said the agency received an input around 8.30pm that Chhokar (61) – who has been declared a proclaimed offender and faces seven non-bailable warrants issued by a Gurgaon court – was at
Grappa
, Shangri-La's bar on the ground floor.
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Navaneet Agrawal
, joint director of ED's Gurgaon zone, reached the hotel within 30 minutes and located Chhokar at the bar. Soon after, the investigating officer of the case also reached the hotel and informed Chhokar about the warrants against him.
The sources said Chhokar, aided by his bodyguards, tried to get away when he realised he could be taken into custody. They tried to force their way to the exit, which is down the lobby so that they could get to the car at the portico. Agrawal, according to the sources, chased Chhokar down. In the melee that followed, the former MLA allegedly tried to assault ED officers and hotel staff in his bid to escape.
Agrawal, however, managed to pin him down. Eventually, the ED team managed to restrain him and put him in the car. But with Chhokar not cooperating and making attempts to escape from the car, a local constable had to be called to assist in the arrest, the sources said. Chhokar was taken to the ED office for questioning and later arrested. He was on Monday sent to six-day ED custody by a Gurgaon court.
The case relates to alleged irregularities by the Mahira Group, a real estate company owned by Chhokar and his sons. ED is investigating alleged money laundering by Chhokar through shell companies and fake construction bills. The group allegedly collected Rs 363 crore from around 1,500 homebuyers under an affordable housing scheme, promising delivery by 2021-22 but never fulfilling it. Mahira has five affordable housing projects in sectors 63A, 68, 95, 103 and 104 in Gurgaon but none is complete yet.
Chhokar's son Sikander was arrested earlier by ED in the same case. The agency also seized properties, vehicles, cash, and jewellery worth crores in July 2023. Chhokar, who served two terms as MLA from Samalkha—first on an HJC ticket in 2009 and then as a Congress legislator in 2019 — contested again in the 2024 election but lost.
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