Jharkhand tender scam: ED raids 18 locations linked to CM's MLA representative
The Enforcement Directorate raids were carried out in connection with a tender scam at 18 locations, including Sahibganj, Berhait and Rajmahal in connection with the scam
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday conducted raids at multiple locations in Jharkhand that were linked to Pankaj Mishra, known to be a close aide of Chief Minister Hemant Soren and also an MLA representative for Sahibganj constituency, news agency ANI report said.
The Enforcement Directorate raids were carried out in connection with a tender scam at 18 locations, including Sahibganj, Berhait and Rajmahal in connection with the scam. ED raids came in connection with an alleged scam done in availing marketplace tender in Sahebganj's Barharwa in 2020. The raids followed the complaint by Shambhu Bhagat, who was also bidding for the tender, he had registered a case against Pankaj Mishra and a few others, alleging that he was beaten up on the instructions of Pankaj Mishra and even threatened to back off from bidding. Interestingly, in the same tender brother of Jharkhand minister, Alamgir Alam was also bidding.
Shambhu Bhagat, the complainant alleged that in order to get the tender allotted to the minister's brother, a big-scale scam was done through a fake company. Enforcement Directorate had taken over the case which was registered at Barharwa police station and started an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
As per another report, the money laundering case stems from a state police FIR, as the ED is also looking at purported links between alleged illegal coal mining operatives and those involved in operations of toll plaza tenders in Jharkhand, state officials said.
Meanwhile, the federal agency in May raided IAS officer Pooja Singhal, her businessman husband and others as part of a money laundering investigation against them. The 2000-batch officer, who was holding the charge of Jharkhand mining secretary, was suspended by the state government following her arrest by the ED. A charge sheet was filed against her and others by the agency before a special PMLA court in Ranchi earlier this week. The federal agency submitted the around 5,000-page prosecution complaint along with annexures and a list of witnesses and evidence collected before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi and has named Singhal, Suman Kumar, a chartered accountant allegedly linked to her, and few others.
The ED requested the court to take cognisance of the charge sheet and issue the process for a trial in the case, officials said. The 44-year-old bureaucrat was suspended by the Jharkhand government soon after her arrest. She was posted as the secretary of industries and was handling the charge of the secretary of the state mining and geology department in an additional capacity.
(With inputs from ANI, PTI)
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