ED raids in 3 states in Bihar 'illegal' sand mining case

New Delhi, Jul 17 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted searches in three states as part of a money laundering investigation into an alleged Rs 130 crore worth illegal sand mining case of Bihar, officials said. A total of eight locations in Banka and Patna districts in Bihar, Delhi, and Sri Ganganagar and Jaipur in Rajasthan were raided under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). They said the probe was against a company named Mahadev Enclave located in Banka, a district in southeastern part of Bihar. The company is controlled by Ashok Chandak and his son Raghav Chandak who hail from Sriganganagar, the officials said. Preliminary probe found that the company allegedly undertook illegal sand mining in the Banka district without the knowledge of the Bihar Mining Department. The ED zonal office in Patna requested IIT, Patna to carry out a geospatial analysis of river sand ghats of Banka in October 2024. The IIT report, as per the officials, found that the company allegedly excavated sand illegally that has been valued at Rs 131 crore during the 2015-16 to 2022-23 financial years. The ED shared this information under the provisions of the PMLA with the Bihar State Mining Corporation Limited in Patna following which the state Mines and Geology Department got a police FIR lodged in August 2025. The money laundering investigation stems from this police FIR, the officials said. PTI NES DV DV