Setback to ED, spl court releases accused in Rs 134 cr illegal mining case

As the Enforcement Directorate (ED) couldn’t give grounds for arrest, a special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Panchkula has released an accused, Mohit Goyal, a businessman, in the Rs 134-crore illegal mining case.

The ED produced Goyal before the judge on March 8 at 10 pm and secured a five-day custody.

On March 13, Goyal was again produced before the court and another five-day remand was sought. Goyal’s counsel Deepanshu Bansal argued that ED had failed to supply the grounds of arrest within 24 hours. He also pointed out that ED had disregarded court orders by not providing the necessary documents to the accused and stated that the agency could not present any concrete reason for his client’s arrest. After the arguments, the court ordered the release of Goyal.

Based on Haryana's Anti-Corruption Bureau FIR, dated August 25, 2022, the ED registered the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on October 18, 2022, against M/s Tirupati Roadways. Its proprietor Gurpreet Singh Sabharwal has been accused of illegal mining.

The firm was allotted mining sites at Rattewali village in Panchkula in 2017 and mining activities were started in 2020. The firm was regularly involved in illegal mining and faced fines on multiple occasions.

Its licence was cancelled on November 8, 2024.

During the check period from May 2020 to November 8, 2024, the firm allegedly illegally excavated minerals valued at Rs 134.09 crore from Rattewali mining site, according to the ED.

The central agency claims that during a search at the mining site, a daily cash book containing cash details from August 1, 2022, to January 8, 2024, was recovered. Cash amounting to Rs 2.12 crore was seized. From the scrutiny of the cash book, details of cash received from the sale of mining material, details of expenses incurred, and the amount of cash handed over to a person, 'Mohit ji', came to light. The agency said 'Mohit' had received Rs 45 crore, and claimed that person was Mohit Goyal.

It was the ACB first that conducted a surprise check at the site of M/s Tirupati Roadways on May 11, 2022. The team discovered that between May 5 and May 11, 2022, a total of 1,868 trucks were involved in transporting the material, whereas bills mentioning GST and royalty, etc., were issued for only 518 trucks. It was also found that the contractor had allegedly extracted 47.66 lakh MT of minerals illegally.

Subsequently, the then Director of Mines and Geology, Haryana, constituted a committee that inspected the mine on November 23, 2022, and further detected illegal mining of 18,467 MT within the contracted area and 2.75 lakh MT from the area adjoining the contracted zone. During another inspection on June 15, 2023, fresh illegal excavation of 16.44 lakh MT was discovered.