ED arrests ex-Haryana MLA Ramniwas, associate in money-laundering case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday said it has arrested an ex-MLA from Haryana Ramniwas and a former Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) official under the anti-money laundering law in a case linked to alleged misappropriation of funds in the state government body.

Ramniwas and Sunil Kumar Bansal were taken into custody on June 9 in Chandigarh. The ED said in a statement that Niwas was an MLA during 2019-2024. He was also a former official of the HSVP (formerly known as the Haryana Urban Development Authority) like Bansal.

Officials said Ramniwas represented the Narwana Assembly seat after he won elections on a Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) ticket.

The money-laundering case stems from an FIR registered by Haryana Police at Sector 7 police station in Panchkula against unknown persons.

The case was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by the drawing and disbursing officer (DDO) of HSVP where it was alleged that “fraud and financial loss” was committed through a bank account of HSVP maintained with the Punjab National Bank in Chandigarh.

It was alleged that between 2015-2019, debit transactions of about Rs 70 crore were repeatedly released in favour of some particular parties for no apparent reason from the said bank account of HSVP, causing a loss of Rs 70 crore, the ED said quoting the police complaint.

An internal enquiry conducted by HSVP found that no such bank account was reflected in the cash branch or IT which means that HSVP was “defrauded” by Bansal and Ramniwas in a clandestine manner, the ED alleged.

The ED claimed that the “fraud” was not limited to one bank account or just to Rs 70 crore but was “very huge”.