Ropar: ED seizes Rs 3.5 crore in raids on mining mafia

Deepkamal Kaur

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Jalandhar, May 29

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today conducted raids at 13 locations in Ropar in connection with complaints over rampant illegal mining along the Sutlej.

ED teams from Jalandhar started raids early this morning on the premises of Nasib Chand in Palata village and his Ram Stone Crushers, recovering Rs 3.5 crore.

ED sources said the land at Bhalari village, where the mafia was indulging in illegal mining activities, had been attached by the ED in the infamous Jagdish Bhola drug case dating back to January 2014, the trial of which is at a crucial stage before the Special PMLA court.

ED officials disclosed that action had been taken on the basis of an FIR that had already been lodged since November 2023.

The ED sources said Naseeb was present at his place when the raids started. Ropar-based Congress leader and former Punjab Youth Congress chief Brinder Dhillon said he had gone live on FB on the same issue in the wee hours on May 27 wherein he had shown 40-50 tippers and six Poclain machines working between 2 am and 3 am in violation of the norms. “It was after I flagged the issue that the police recovered 12 tippers from the site the next day and lodged an FIR”, he said.