Illegal foreign-made arms, as many as 300 cartridges, more than 100 liquor bottles, Rs 5 crore cash and nearly 5 kg bullion (gold or silver valued in weight) have been recovered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from the premises of former Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) legislator Dilbag Singh and his associates in connection with an illegal mining case and e-conveyance scam.
The investigation team’s raids in the case of illicit mining, which started on Thursday morning, carried on into Friday. On Thursday, the ED carried out raids on more than 20 sites connected to Dilbag Singh, the Haryana Congress MLA Surendar Panwar, and other individuals in relation to the case. In compliance with the guidelines set forth by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), several locations in Sonipat, Mohali, Faridabad, Chandigarh, Karnal, and Yamuna Nagar came under search.
Notably, Dilbag Singh is the former Yamuna Nagar legislator.
The ED teams began raids on Thursday at around 8 am, and their five different vehicles were escorted by armed personnel of the central paramilitary forces.
According to the sources, the ED is also scrutinising documents related to mining. There have been reports of many more major revelations in the raids, though no official confirmation has yet been made. Searches were underway at Dilbag Singh’s house at the time of writing this report.
Notably, Dilbag Singh is good friends with INLD leader Abhay Singh. The daughter of Dilbag Singh wed Arjun Chautala, the son of Chautala, four years ago. Abhay Singh Chautala left the Haryana Legislative Assembly in 2021 to back farmers’ protests against the three farm regulations that have since been overturned.
