Surender Panwar, a Haryana Congress MLA, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday in connection with an “illegal” mining-related money laundering case, according to official sources.
The 55-year-old politician was arrested in Gurugram early this morning. He will appear before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ambala, where the central agency would seek a prison remand, according to sources.
The agency raided the MLA’s home in January on charges of “large-scale illegal mining” in the Yamunanagar district of the state.
It then detained Dilbag Singh, a former Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) politician from Yamunanagar, and one of his colleagues, Kulwinder Singh, in the case.
Assembly elections for Haryana’s 90 seats are scheduled for later this year.
The money-laundering case arises from various FIRs made by the Haryana Police to investigate the illegal mining of boulders, gravel, and sand that took place in the past in Yamunanagar and neighboring areas in violation of a prohibition issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The ED is also looking into an alleged scam under the “e-Ravana” scheme, an online portal launched by the Haryana government in 2020 to ease royalty and tax collection and curb tax evasion in mining areas.
According to the ED, the accused unlawful mining generated slush cash worth approximately Rs 400-500 crore over the last few years.