Ahead of the Haryana Assembly election, the Congress has hit a roadblock with one of its heavyweight candidates coming on the ED's radar for alleged money laundering. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday seized assets valued at over Rs 44 crore, connected to Haryana Congress MLA Rao Dan Singh, his son, and others, as part of a money-laundering probe.
Rao Dan Singh (65) represents the Mahendragarh constituency and has been nominated by the Congress to contest the same seat in the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections on October 5. A four-term legislator, Singh fought in the Lok Sabha elections from the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat earlier this year but lost to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Dharambir Singh by over 41,000 votes. Singh is known to be a close associate of former Haryana Chief Minister and current Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
According to the ED, the assets attached include 31 flats in Coban Residency, Sector 99A in Gurugram, and 2.25 acres of land in Harsaru village, also in Gurugram, all linked to Rao Dan Singh and his son, Akshat Singh. The agency also seized properties in Delhi, Gurugram, Rewari (Haryana), and Jaipur (Rajasthan), linked to companies associated with Suncity Projects Private Limited and ILD Group, reported news agency PTI.
This money-laundering case originates from a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR against Allied Strips Limited, a company accused of defrauding a consortium of banks, led by Canara Bank, of Rs 1,392.86 crore. Allied Strips Limited, which produced cold-rolled steel, entered insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in 2018 and was later acquired by another firm.
The ED alleges that entities connected to Rao Dan Singh received Rs 19 crore from the misappropriated bank funds, which were then invested in the purchase of flats and land. These entities reportedly manipulated their financial records to conceal the transactions by shifting the funds to other individuals.
The ED has also noted that Rao Dan Singh and his family have not yet participated in the investigation. Previous searches of properties linked to Singh's son, Akshat, uncovered Rs 1.42 crore in cash, along with documents revealing undisclosed assets, including flats, land, and various bank lockers and trusts.
The ED claims that the scheme involved "siphoning off" funds obtained through loans from banks, transferring the money to other companies as unsecured loans and advances, and recording fictitious transactions. These activities reportedly allowed the suspects to use the funds to purchase land and other assets for long-term investments.