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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out searches across eight places in Bihar, Delhi and Rajasthan in the case of alleged illegal sand mining done by Bihar-based Mahadev Enclave Pvt Ltd, controlled by the Chandak Family of Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, headed by Ashok Chandak and his son Raghav Chandak.
The raids have continued since morning, covering one spot each in Bihar's Banka and Patna, one in Delhi and NCR, as well as four spots in Sri Ganganagar and one in Jaipur. ED's Patna zonal office is conducting a search operation under section 17 of PMLA in the case. During the course of investigation, officials said, evidence was gathered that Mahadev Enclave Pvt Ltd had conducted illegal mining on a large scale and the same was not reported or noticed by the state mining department. Accordingly, they said, ED Patna requested IIT Patna to carry out "geospatial analysis of sand ghats of rivers in Banka district of Bihar" in a letter dated October 1, 2024. "From the analysis of the report of IIT, Patna, it is found that the company has excavated huge sand illegally, and the approximate value of this illegally mined sand is more than Rs 131 crore during Financial Year 2015-16 to 2022-23," said the officials privy to the case. Accordingly, the officials said, this information was shared in terms of Section 66(2) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, to the Managing Director, Bihar State Mining Corporation Limited, Patna. "In response, the Mines and Geology Department under the Bihar government lodged FIR no. 365/2025 dated August 21, 2025, which is under investigation." (ANI)
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