Sonepat Congress MLA Surender Panwar Arrested by ED in Money Laundering Case Linked to Illegal Mining

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday arrested Surender Panwar, Congress MLA from Sonepat, in connection with a money laundering case tied to illegal mining activities in Yamunanagar and other areas of Haryana.

In January, the ED conducted searches at properties associated with Panwar and his associates in Sonepat. The residences of BJP leader Manoj Wadhwa in Karnal and INLD MLA Dilbagh Singh and his affiliates in Yamunanagar district were also searched. Following these raids, Singh was taken into custody for further interrogation.

According to the Press Trust of India (PTI), the ED teams were accompanied by armed personnel from central paramilitary forces during the operations.

The money laundering case originates from multiple FIRs filed by the Haryana Police investigating the alleged illegal mining of boulders, gravel, and sand in Yamunanagar and surrounding districts. These activities reportedly continued even after the expiration of mining leases and despite court orders.

The central agency is also scrutinizing suspected fraud within the ‘e-ravan’ scheme, an online portal introduced by the Haryana government in 2020 to streamline the collection of royalties and taxes and to prevent tax evasion in mining regions.

In July 2022, Panwar submitted his resignation to Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta, citing personal reasons, including threats to his family’s safety. “My son has been receiving death threats, but since you have assured me that adequate security will be provided to us, I am withdrawing my resignation,” Panwar wrote at the time.

Panwar later retracted his resignation after receiving assurances from Speaker Gupta about enhanced security measures. “The speaker told me to come and meet him personally. He assured me and other MLAs that adequate measures will be taken to ensure our security and the culprits will be traced and arrested,” Panwar said.

Legal experts had noted that the speaker could not have accepted Panwar’s resignation solely based on electronic communication without an in-person hearing.