Chandigarh, Nov. 1 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court has dismissed a plea from Congress leader and Bholath MLA, Sukhpal Singh Khaira, seeking to defer trial in a 2022 money laundering case.

Khaira had moved the high court in April, demanding that since the trial in the drugs case remained stayed in view of the Punjab government undertaking before the Supreme Court, the money laundering case trial couldn't continue.

The bench of justice Tribhuvan Dahiya, while dismissing the plea, said, "The offence of money laundering is independent of the scheduled offence; nevertheless, it gets its substratum from the proceeds of crime obtained as a result of the commission of a scheduled offence. Therefore, existence of scheduled offence is a sine...