Photo used for representational purpose only. Tribune Photo
New Delhi, September 23
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today said that after recent raids it has found illegal mining worth Rs 35 crore, which has been carried out by certain stone crushers and related entities in Una district of Himachal Pradesh.
In an official statement, the ED said it recently conducted raids against some accused allegedly involved in the illegal activity and seized “incriminating” documents and Rs 15.37 lakh “unaccounted” cash.
It further said that the searches were carried out at the premises of Lakhwinder Singh Stone Crushers, Manav Khanna, Neeraj Prabhakar, Vishal alias Vicky and others in Una, Mohali (Punjab) and Panchkula (Haryana) in connection with illegal mining in the Swan river bed.
“Rampant illegal mining was being carried out at various locations in Una and this included illegal mining of sand from the river bed as well as stone mining from quarries,” read the ED statement.
“The modus operandi adopted by the persons includes excavation of sand and gravel beyond leased mining area, overshooting prescribed depth of mining, thus causing excess mining,” it said.
The excess illegally mined sand, gravel and stone/boulder were being transported “suspiciously” without payment of requisite royalty/taxes to the state government, the ED alleged, adding that “massive environment damage” was caused due to non-adherence of environmental norms.
The ED said a joint survey of these mines is being carried out to physically ascertain the extent of damage caused and the quantum of illegal mining. “Analysis of certain documents recovered from the searched locations revealed parallel sets of documents being maintained having details of actual mining for a short period of time and thereafter further preliminary analysis of the documents shows that about Rs 35 crore worth illegal mining has been done by the persons involved,” it said.
This case under provisions of the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA) stems from an FIR filed by the Una police last year.
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