The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday said it has arrested an ex-MLA from Haryana, Ram Niwas, 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.
The ED said in a statement that Niwas and Sunil Kumar Bansal were taken into custody on June 9 at Chandigarh. Niwas was an MLA representing the Narwana assembly seat from a Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) ticket during 2019-2024. He was also a former official of the HSVP (formerly known as the Haryana Urban Development Authority), like Bansal.
The money laundering case stems from an FIR registered by the Haryana Police at Panchkula’s Sector 7 police station against unknown persons 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 ₹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 ₹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 Ram Niwas in a clandestine manner, the ED alleged.
The ED claimed that the “fraud” was not limited to one bank account or just to ₹70 crore but was “very huge”.
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