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ED arrests ex-INLD MLA, aide in illegal mining-linked PMLA case
The ED had on Thursday raided premises linked to Dilbag Singh and his associates in Yamunanagar besides the house of Cong MLA Panwar and his aides in Sonepat
After four days of searches at various locations linked to INLD former MLA Dilbag Singh, 52, in Yamunanagar, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested him in illegal mining-linked Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case.
The ED officials didn’t issue a statement on the arrest, but the former MLA’s brother Rajinder Singh confirmed the development, levelling allegations against the central agency and the Union government.
As per the official documents shared with Rajinder by the ED, the former legislator was arrested by ED’s assistant director Anand Kumar Pandey under section 19 of the PMLA at 12.15 pm. HT has a copy of these documents.
Quoting official sources, news agency PTI also reported the arrest of the ex-MLA’s aide Kulwinder Singh on similar charges. The former Haryana MLA and his aide, taken into custody under the PMLA, will be produced before a local court where the agency will seek further custody in the illegal mining case and in a fresh case of illicit firearms.
The former MLA was taken by an ED team from Gurugram in a convoy of seven vehicles. Several of his supporters were seen outside his residence.
The ED had on Thursday raided premises linked to Dilbag Singh and his associates in Yamunanagar district besides the house of Congress MLA Surender Panwar and his aides in Sonepat, residences of BJP leader Manoj Wadhwa in Karnal and other locations in Haryana.
The raids were conducted under sections (1) and 1 (A) of the PMLA as part of a money-laundering case linked to illegal mining in Yamunanagar and some other areas of the state.
On Friday, the Yamunanagar police had registered two separate FIRs against Dilbag at Pratap Nagar police station on recovery of five weapons, 304 live cartridges and 138 bottles of liquor by an ED team from a farmhouse allegedly belonging to him, a charge denied by Rajender, who claimed that the property did not belong to Dilbag.
According to news agency ANI, ₹5 crore in cash, about 5 kg of gold biscuits and jewellery, and documents of assets in India and abroad were also recovered from the house of Dilbag Singh and his associates.
The documents also revealed that the agency seized some loose sheets with written pages, two four-wheelers and four mobile phones of the family. Addressing the reporters, Rajender said the media is wrongly reporting that cash and gold were recovered from them.
“The ED has not mentioned any seizure in the official documents given except for our land documents, electronic devices and a car owned by Dilbag. The status of currency Indian or foreign or jewellery recovered from us is nil. Items recovered but not seized include cheque books and bank account details of our family. If there is recovery of liquor from someone else’s premises, what does he have to do with it? All rifles are licenced,” Rajinder added.
He further said, “This is political vendetta as elections are approaching. It’s alleged that there was embezzlement of funds in a stone-crusher business owned by him (Dilbag Singh). He is a politician and not into the mining business.”
This is not the first time that a central agency has knocked at the doors of the family. Rajinder said in 2019 and 2021, the income tax department had also raided their residence.
Close to Chautalas, Dilbag’s daughter is married to senior INLD leader and Ellenabad MLA Abhay Chautala’s younger son Arjun Chautala. However, after the raids and now the arrest, the INLD seems to have distanced itself.
There was no official statement from the party, but a leader told HT, “This is his personal business-related matter and party doesn’t have to do anything with this.”
He was first elected from the Yamunanagar seat in the 2009 assembly elections, defeating Devender Chawla from the Congress party.
In 2019, he unsuccessfully contested from the seat against the BJP’s Ghanshyam Das Arora. In this election, he had declared his assets to the tune of ₹34 crore in his affidavit and was among the richest candidates in Haryana.
