Haryana: ED arrests Sonepat Congress MLA Surender Panwar in illegal mining case
Enforcement Directorate probing FIRs registered by Haryana Police in Sonepat, Bhiwani and Yamunanagar in connection with illegal mining of boulders, gravel and sand; arrest comes two days after ED searched 15 premises of Mahendragarh Congress MLA Rao Dan Singh.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Sonepat Congress MLA Surender Panwar, 55, in connection with an illegal mining case on Friday night, official sources said on Saturday.
Panwar’s arrest came 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.
The ED is also probing an alleged 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.
According to the sources, the ED team from Delhi reached Panwar’s house and took him to Ambala, where a special court remanded him in nine days’ custody of the Enforcement Directorate.
The MLA runs mining operations in Haryana and Rajasthan.
In January, the ED had searched Panwar’s residence in Sector 15, Sonepat, besides multiple locations linked to former INLD MLA Dilbag Singh in Yamunanagar.
The ED had recovered ₹5 crore, foreign-made arms and 300 cartridges after the searches.
The ED had also arrested Dilbag and his associate in January but later they were granted bail.
The sources said that several documents indicating money laundering were recovered from the Sonepat MLA’s house after which he was detained.
Earlier this month, the ED had raided Congress leader Satbir Ratera’s house in Bhiwani and Vijay Hassania in Tosham.
Two days ago, the Congress leader Deepender Hooda had claimed that ED raids would be conducted on the government’s instructions in the run-up to the Haryana assembly elections to suppress the voice of opposition leaders but people of Haryana knew such tactics and would teach the ruling BJP a lesson.
The Haryana assembly elections are expected to be held in October.