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ED recovers foreign-made weapons, ₹5 crore during raids in Haryana mining case
About ₹5 crore cash, “illegal” foreign-made rifles, around 300 cartridges and bullets, more than 100 liquor bottles, 4-5 kg of gold biscuits and jewellery, and documents of assets in India and abroad have been recovered from the premises linked to Singh and his associates
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the premises linked to former Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLA Dilbag Singh and his associates, and the residence of Haryana Congress MLA Surender Panwar and his aides in Sonepat and other locations as part of a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal mining in Haryana’s Yamunanagar district and some other regions.
During searches, the ED recovered five foreign-made rifles, over 300 cartridges, ₹5 crore in cash and more than 100 liquor bottles. The weapons and cartridges were recovered from a farmhouse of the former MLA in Yamunanagar’s Kalesar area.
The central agency had launched raids on Thursday and continued the searches at some locations on Friday. The ED also raided Panwar’s close aide Suresh Tyagi’s house in Sonepat and took some documents related to mining.
As per ANI, about ₹5 crore cash, “illegal” foreign-made rifles, around 300 cartridges and bullets, more than 100 liquor bottles, 4-5 kg of gold biscuits and jewellery, and documents of assets in India and abroad have been recovered from the premises linked to Singh and his associates.
The central agency seized an Anschutz-make Cal. 22 long rifle, two blaser-make rifles from Germany and two KK (without barrel) guns, apart from a total number of 304 cartridges of different make and sizes.
In his complaint, Dinesh Verma, assistant director with the ED’s Srinagar zone, said when Singh was asked regarding the license for possessing the arms & ammunition found and recovered at the farmhouse, he said he had a valid license to carry them, however, the same was expired and pending for renewal with the DC office.
“On further inquiry, Dilbag Singh stated to be not in the possession of any acknowledgment regarding the submission of application of license renewal with the DC office,” the complaint reads.
Superintendent of police (SP) Ganga Ram Punia said, “The recovered arms and ammunition were handed over to us. A case was registered under various sections of the Arms Act and a probe was initiated.”
The agency has also seized several other items and documents, a statement for which was yet to be issued.
In their complaint to Yamunanagar police, the ED said during a search operation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, it was also found that the Arms Act was violated after a huge recovery of arms and ammunition.
INLD media coordinator Rakesh Sihag remained incommunicado, while a party leader said the raids have nothing to do with the party and it was his business matter. Haryana Congress media in charge Chandveer Hooda said the raids are being carried out with political vendetta and Sonepat MLA Surender Panwar is cooperating with federal agency.
The money laundering cases stem from multiple FIRs registered by the Haryana Police regarding alleged illegal mining in Sonepat, Yamunanagar and other districts.
Both leaders are in the business of mining.
About 20 locations of both leaders in Sonepat, Chandigarh, Yamunanagar, Karnal, Mohali and Faridabad were searched on Thursday under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED teams were escorted by armed personnel of central paramilitary forces.
Both Panwar and Dilbag were the richest candidates in the 2019 assembly polls and they declared their assets worth ₹27 crore and ₹34 crore, respectively.
