Haryana: ED seizes ₹1.42-cr cash, undisclosed assets during raids against Congress MLA, others

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said it has seized ₹1.42 crore in cash, documents related to more than 30 “undisclosed” flats and land during searches against Mahendergarh Congress MLA Rao Dan Singh, his son Akshat Rao and some business entities as part of a bank-loan fraud-linked money-laundering investigation. However, the central agency did not specify what exactly seized from where. (Getty image) The ED, in a statement, said the search operations led to the seizure of cash amounting to ₹1.42 crore, incriminating documents about 32 undisclosed flats and land, various lockers, trusts etc. from the premises of the group entities and persons, including entities of Akshat Singh, son of Rao Dan Singh. However, the central agency did not specify what exactly seized from where. Four-time MLA Rao Dan Singh represents Mahendergarh assembly seat in Haryana and he lost the parliamentary polls from BJP’s Dharambir Singh a margin of over 41,000 votes. He is considered close to former chief miner Bhupinder Singh Hooda. When asked about ED raids, Hooda said this is an old case and Rao Dan Singh has no association with it, adding agencies have the right to probe any case if they found any irregularities. “Rao Dan Singh had earlier stated that he and his family had no connection with it,” Hooda had said on Friday during a press conference in Rohtak. Bhiwani-Mahendergarh MP Dharambir Singh of the BJP said he is a good friend of Rao Dan Singh, despite contesting against him in the general polls and he does not know more about this case, and ED officials are doing their duty, adding there is no political intention behind the raids on the premises of the Mahendergarh MLA. The money-laundering investigation stems from a CBI FIR filed against the accused, who were charged with committing “fraud” siphoning off and diverting funds, criminal misappropriation, criminal breach of trust and cheating, and causing wrongful loss of more than ₹1,392.86 crore to a consortium of banks led the Canara Bank. The ED claimed that the modus operandi of the alleged bank-loan fraud “included siphoning off of the funds borrowed from banks to other companies in the form of unsecured loans and advances, writing off debts of its various debtors, bogus transactions etc”. The searched entities have been found to have falsified their books of accounts, it claimed. ED officials familiar with the matter said Rao Dan Singh’s family and companies took loan money from ASL but never returned it and later, these funds were written off.