Sukhjeevan Sharma,
Speaking from his Richmond home with INVC, Mothada said he had absolutely no clue why his name was being involved in a drug racket about which he has no clue.
He claims he has never met Jagdish Bhola, allegedly the king pin of the busted drug network, let alone being involved in any such activity. “I don’t know any Jagdish Bhola, I have never met or even seen him,” said Mothada.
According to him he has been visiting India for the last 12 years without any difficulty and has been involved in organizing Kabaddi tournaments with great success there. “My name has been unnecessarily dragged into this. The person who has given my name has since retracted his statement and things have been clarified,” claimed Mothada.
Calls to the RCMP to confirm whether any investigation is being carried out here on Dara Singh Mothada and Sarabjit Singh alias Nick a resident of Delta also named in Indian media reports were not returned until the newspaper’s deadline.
Indian media had reported that at least four Indo-Canadians including two from Metro Vancouver were being investigated by Punjab Police for helping out international wrestler-turned-police officer-turned-drugs kingpin Jagdish Bhola in his multi-million drugs network which fanned from India to Europe, Canada and Britain.
According to these reports, those being investigated in Canada are, Dara Singh Mathoda, promoter of the Azaad Kabaddi Club based in Vancouver, former kabaddi player Sarabjit Singh alias Nick based in Delta, Nirankara Singh Dhillon based in Brampton (Ontario), and Harbans Sidhu based in Toronto.
While busting a multi-million US dollar international drugs racket being run from Punjab, the state police chanced upon the fact that sports was being used as a medium to run the whole racket. Not only that, the drugs-sports nexus also had a definite `Kabootarbaazi’ (illegal immigration) link to it.
People involved in the racket from Britain and Holland are also being probed, Patiala district police chief H.S. Mann told Indian media outlets.
“The information was shared with the Police Liaison Officer in the Canadian High Commission, New Delhi, by the Punjab Police in a high-level meeting presided over by Punjab Additional Director General of Police, Intelligence, Hardeep Singh Dhillon. Particulars of recipients in UK and Holland have also been collected,” Mann said.
The Patiala police tracked down Bhola and his four associates near the Haryana-Delhi border and arrested them with synthetic drugs worth over Rs.18 crore Monday.
Bhola was on the radar of the state police ever since they busted a Rs.700-crore synthetic drugs racket March this year and arrested over 25 people, including two Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) of Punjab origin.
Bhola, an Arjuna Award (highest sport award in the country given by the government) winner in 1997, was dismissed as deputy superintendent of police (DSP) by Punjab Police after he got involved in the drugs trade.
Mann said Bhola and his gang were able to smuggle over 300 kg of synthetic drugs like Ice (M-amphetamine) and other drugs like heroin by hiding these inside sports equipment.
Punjab Police, after arresting Bhola and conducting raids at various places from where he operated, found that his gang was also indulging in `Kabootarbaazi’ (pigeon flight) or illegal immigration of Punjabi youth to the West.
During a raid in Patel Nagar in New Delhi, the police found a visa stamping machine, forged visa stamps, several passports and other documents which showed that the gang was sending youth to other countries illegally.
One of the associates of Bhola, Sarabjit Singh, arrested with him Monday, was a master vehicle thief who operated in Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi and Punjab. He was involved in other crimes like kidnapping, dacoity and robberies also, Mann said.
