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ED arrests Sonepat Congress MLA Surender Panwar in illegal mining case
Amid protection from central and state forces, Sonepat Congress MLA Surender Panwar was presented before a special court in Ambala and was sent to nine-day ED custody, officials said
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday arrested Sonepat Congress MLA Surender Panwar, 55, in connection with an illegal mining case registered in January this year.
Amid protection from central and state forces, Panwar was presented before a special court in Ambala and was sent to nine-day ED custody, officials said.
As per the court documents, he was arrested based on an enforcement case information report (ECIR) and subsequent FIR registered on the complaint of the central agency in Yamunanagar against several individuals, including former INLD MLA from Yamunanagar Dilbag Singh and five firms.
Though he was named in the FIR, special public prosecutor Tarun Mehta said it is not necessary as during the probe in the case, it was found that Panwar was a shareholder in a mining firm under scanner, a part of which was also disclosed in his election affidavit.
It was also found during the investigation that the Congress MLA has received proceeds of crime to the tune of nearly ₹26 crore, Mehta added.
ED told the court that the legislator was called to the ED’s Gurugram zonal office at 11 am on Friday to record statements and was arrested at 1.40 am on Saturday after which his medical was conducted at Gurugram civil hospital at 3.30 am.
Seeking custody for 14 days, the ED said the court that eight FIRs have been registered by the Haryana Police in Yamunanagar for cheating, fraud and tax crimes in 2022 and 2023, and proceeds of crime were alleged to be generated by the criminal act of illegal mining.
Following this, another case was registered by the Yamunanagar Police on the complaint of ED for “rampant and unscientific mining” in January this year, days after searches were carried out at various locations and recoveries were made from Dilbag and others.
Following the searches, the former MLA, along with his aide Kulwinder Singh, was arrested by the ED.
The ED also probed the fraud in the “e-Ravana scheme”, an online portal introduced by the Haryana government in 2020 to simplify tax collection prevent evasion in the mining areas, where fake bills were allegedly generated by the firms.
The central agency told the court, “…it was found that Pawar, his wife Sunita Pawar and sons Rahul Pawar and Lalit Pawar are shareholders in one of the firms, Development Strategies India Pvt Ltd, which is part of the mining syndicate. Panwar and his family hold almost 32% share holdings in the company.”
“Even in election affidavit filed by Panwar for the Haryana assembly elections 2019, he has declared that he and his wife have 9% each shareholding in Development Strategies India Pvt Ltd…,” the ED said.
The court order was not available till writing of this report. However, Panwar’s counsel Mahadev Maharaj Singh said that it was argued before the court that the arrest was illegal.
“It was stated that the Punjab and Haryana high court had granted bail to ex-MLA Dilbag and Kulwinder on grounds that the charges were unjustified. Whereas, my client was arrested who is not even a director or signatory of the said company. Thus, a remand of nine days was granted against 14 days as sought,” he added.
The MLA’s arrest comes two days after the ED searched 15 premises of Mahendragarh Congress MLA Rao Dan Singh, who lost the recent parliamentary elections from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh by more than 41,000 votes.
ED officials are probing first information reports registered by Haryana Police in Sonepat, Bhiwani and Yamunanagar, where illegal mining of boulders, gravel and sand is being carried out despite the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ban.
Earlier this month, the ED had raided Congress leader Satbir Ratera’s house in Bhiwani and Vijay Hassania in Tosham.
On the arrest, party MP from Rohtak Deepender Hooda said the BJP is scared of the questions of the ongoing campaign “Haryana Maange Hisaab” and is misusing government investigation agencies against Opposition leaders.
He demanded that the BJP government should answer the questions of the public instead of using central agencies like ED and CBI.
Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Surjewala also hit out at the BJP over the arrest and said, “Pawar has served the people that is the reason he was elected an MLA. The BJP government is going from power and is using such tactics.”
The Haryana assembly elections are expected to be held in October.
