The Enforcement Directorate has launched a multi-state crackdown on an illegal sand mining racket in Bihar worth more than Rs 131 crore. Acting under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the agency's Patna zonal team began simultaneous searches at eight locations across Bihar, Delhi and Rajasthan.
The company under the scanner
The probe centres on a firm called Mahadev Enclave Private Limited, which the agency says is controlled by the Chandak family of Sriganganagar in Rajasthan. The company's day-to-day operations are run by Ashok Chandak and his son Raghav Chandak. Investigators found that between financial year 2015-16 and 2022-23, the company carried out large-scale illegal sand mining in Bihar's Banka district.
How the Rs 131 crore figure came up
The ED estimates that sand worth more than Rs 131 crore was illegally extracted during this eight-year period, yet the state's mining department had no record of it despite the scale of the operation. The breakthrough came when the ED got IIT Patna to carry out a geospatial analysis of the sand ghats in Banka district. Once the IIT Patna report confirmed illegal mining, the agency stepped up its action and, based on the report's findings, forwarded the full details to the Bihar State Mining Corporation Limited under Section 66(2) of the PMLA.
From FIR to a money laundering case
Following this, the Mines and Geology Department filed an FIR in the case on August 21, 2025, and that FIR is still being investigated. It was on the basis of this FIR that the ED registered a separate money laundering case and launched its nationwide search operation. Teams have covered Banka and Patna in Bihar as well as Delhi-NCR, Sriganganagar and Jaipur in Rajasthan, taking the total number of locations searched simultaneously to eight.
What happens next
During the raids, the agency is gathering documents, digital records, bank transaction details and other evidence. More disclosures are expected once the investigation is complete. The search operation is still underway, and the ED has not yet issued any official statement on recoveries or arrests. Even so, the action is being seen as one of the biggest crackdowns yet on illegal sand mining in Bihar.
