100 alcohol bottles, 300 bullets, Rs 5 crore cash found in raids on ex-Haryana MLA
NEW DELHI,JAN 5 : Illegal foreign-made arms, as many as 300 cartridges, more than 100 liquor bottles, Rs 5 crore cash and nearly 5 kg bullion (gold or silver valued in weight) have been recovered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from the premises of former Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) legislator Dilbag Singh and his associates in connection with an illegal mining case and e-conveyance scam, sources privy to the matter told India Today.
Raids by the probe agency in the illegal mining case, which began on Thursday morning, continued on Friday. The ED conducted raids on over 20 locations linked to Haryana Congress MLA Surendar Panwar and Dilbag Singh and others in connection with the case on Thursday. These searches were conducted at multiple places in Sonipat, Mohali, Faridabad, Chandigarh, Karnal, and Yamuna Nagar under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The ED teams began raids on Thursday at around 8 am, and their five different vehicles were escorted by armed personnel of the central paramilitary forces.
According to the sources, the ED is also scrutinising documents related to mining. There have been reports of many more major revelations in the raids, though no official confirmation has yet been made. Searches were underway at Dilbag Singh’s house at the time of writing this report.
Notably, Dilbag Singh is a close friend of INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala. Four years ago, Dilbag Singh’s daughter got married to Chautala’s son Arjun Chautala. In 2021, Abhay Singh Chautala resigned from the Haryana Legislative Assembly in support of the farmers’ protest against the three now-repealed farm laws.
The money laundering case stems from multiple FIRs of the Haryana Police filed to probe alleged illegal mining of boulders, gravel and sand that happened in the past in Yamuna Nagar and adjoining districts even after the lease expired and court’s order.
The central agency is additionally probing an alleged fraud in the ‘e-ravan’ scheme, an online platform that was started by the Haryana government in 2020 to simplify collection of royalties and taxes and to keep tax evasion in mining regions at bay.
-The India Today
