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Haryana: On Monday, The Enforcement Directorate arrested former Haryana MLA Dilbag Singh and his aide Kulwinder Singh in connection with an illegal mining case and an e-conveyance scam. Dilbag Singh served as a legislator for the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) from the Yamuna Nagar assembly seat, and his aide were taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The central agency was conducting raids on the premises of Singh, associated with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), and Congress MLA from Sonipat Surendra Panwar since January 4, which ended today.
The Enforcement Directorate discovered at least five illegal foreign-made arms, 300 cartridges, over 100 liquor bottles, cash worth Rs 5 crore and around 5 kg bullion (gold or silver valued in weight) were recovered from the premises of Dilbag Singh and his associates on January 5 – the second day of the raids. The seized items and currency form part of the ongoing investigation into alleged illegal mining-related money laundering.
The genesis of the money laundering case lies in multiple FIRs filed by Haryana Police, investigating instances of unauthorized extraction of boulders, gravel, and sand in Yamunanagar and surrounding districts. Both Dilbag Singh and Kulwinder Singh were taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the two will be produced before a local court where the Enforcement Directorate will seek their further custody.
These activities reportedly continued beyond the lease expiry period, despite a ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal. Apart from the illegal mining aspect, the Enforcement Directorate is delving into a suspected fraud associated with the ‘e-Ravana’ scheme.
Introduced by the Haryana government in 2020, this online portal aimed to streamline the collection of royalties and taxes while preventing tax evasion in mining areas. The money laundering case stems from multiple FIRs of the Haryana Police lodged to probe alleged illegal mining of boulders, gravel and sand that took place in the past in Yamuna Nagar and adjoining districts even after the lease expired and a ban was imposed by the National Green Tribunal. The alleged fraud in the implementation of the ‘e-Ravana’ scheme is now under the scrutiny of the central agency.
