Chandigarh: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday arrested Sonepat’s Congress MLA Surender Panwar from Gurugram in connection with a money laundering case linking to the illegal mining in Yamunanagar district and adjoining areas of the state.
It may be recalled that the ED had searched the premises linked to Panwar and his associates in January in Sonepat, BJP leader Manoj Wadhwa’s residence in Karnal and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLA Dilbagh Singh and his aides in Yamunanagar district. Singh was later arrested for further questioning.
The said case stems from several police cases registered by state police to investigate into the illegal mining of the boulders, gravel and river-bed sand which is said to be rampant in the Yamunanagar and several districts even after the expiry of the lease period and court orders.
The ED is also said to be investigating alleged fraud in the "E-Ravana’’ (e-exit-receipt) scheme – Haryana government online system to simplify collection of royalties and taxes to prevent tax evasion in the mining sites. Meanwhile, according to information, Panwar was sent to nine-day ED custody.
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Meanwhile, reacting sharply against its MLA Panwar, several senior leaders alleged that seeing its sure defeat in the upcoming Haryana assembly elections, the ruling BJP has panicked and has started openly misusing the investigating agencies.
In a joint statement issued here, deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Aftab Ahmed, chief whip B B Batra and MLAs Jagbir Malik and Geeta Bhukkal alleged that the timing of the arrest of MLA Surendra Pawar and the raid at the house of another Congress MLA Rao Dan Singh proves that all this is a malicious attempt to unnecessarily intimidate political opponents.
Expressing faith in the judicial system of the country, they said that the truth of such politically motivated cases will be revealed soon and the countdown of the BJP government in the state has begun.
