Overview
- The Enforcement Directorate arrested former Additional Deputy Commissioner Kuldeep Singh and mining operator Nipun Mahajan after taking them into custody on November 11 and a special PMLA court remanded both to ED custody until November 16.
- The case stems from an August 2023 Vigilance Bureau FIR that alleges about 92 acres of shamlat, or village common land, in Bhattian village, Pathankot, were fraudulently transferred to private parties to enable mining.
- IIT Ropar’s drone and bathymetric survey found about 50.74 lakh cubic feet of excavation on the 92‑acre site valued at roughly Rs 11.16 crore while the ED’s broader analysis estimates up to 16.70 crore cubic feet of material worth about Rs 367.5 crore.
- Investigators seized Rs 1.75 crore in cash during July searches, froze bank accounts holding about Rs 91.34 lakh, and are tracing payments, power of attorney documents, crusher sales and bank transactions to map alleged proceeds of crime.
- The disputed Ravi river‑belt site lies close to the India–Pakistan border, which raises security and environmental concerns and means the probe could trigger tighter controls on riverine mining and further legal action if charges are filed.