AAP leader’s premises also searched

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, July 17: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at 17 premises in three districts of Punjab including that of a local AAP leader in a money laundering probe into the illegal mining,

The searches were conducted in Pathankot, Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts involving 17 premises in connection with illegal mining.

The places searched by the ED include crusher units, business units and a property dealer's residence in Pathankot too. While no official statement was issued by the ED, the searches are reportedly linked to illegal activities of mining involving an AAP leader, businessmen, stone crusher owners and others.

The ED teams searched for documents, electronic gadgets and other relevant records.

In Pathankot, searches were conducted at Taragarh, Salley Road and Datiyal village near the international border.

The searches were carried out at mining firms and stone crushers in and around the Pathankot border district, as well as residential premises in Pathankot, Amritsar, and Gurdaspur linked to AAP functionary Vijay Kataruchak.

Kataruchak is said to be a close associate of AAP minister Lal Chand Kataruchak.

The ED's probe stems from a case filed by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau in 2023 against retired ADC Kuldeep Singh in Pathankot. He was booked by the state's anti-corruption agency on charges of passing an order granting approximately 92 acres of Panchayat land, located a few kilometers from the international border, to seven women, days before his retirement.

Sources in the agency said that the mining activities continued unabated in the area despite the Punjab and Haryana High Court banning such activities in the region in August 2022.

Mining in Pathankot has long been a lucrative business, with estimates running into hundreds of crores annually.

The Punjab and Haryana High has prohibited mining within one km of the International Border (IB) with Pakistan. Screening and stone-crushing units are banned within two km of the IB, following concerns raised by the Army and BSF that illegal mining trenches aid infiltration.

The National Green Tribunal has also banned sand and gravel extraction at several riverbed sites. In August 2022, the HC directed the Punjab Government and the BSF to stop all mining in and across the Ravi near the IB. The court noted that illegal mining had contributed to the destruction of the Chakki river railway bridge connecting Pathankot with Joginder Nagar in Himachal Pradesh.