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ED gets six-day remand of arrested aide of CM Soren
After questioning Pankaj Mishra at its regional office here again on Wednesday, the agency produced him before the special court for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
A special court here on Wednesday granted six-day remand of Pankaj Mishra, a close aide of Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, to the Enforcement Directorate, which had arrested him the previous day in connection with a money laundering case, a lawyer said.
The federal probe agency had kept Mishra, who is Soren’s political representative, at the Kotwali police station premises on Tuesday night after his medical check-up. After questioning Mishra at its regional office here again on Wednesday, the agency produced him before the special court for cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
“The court granted ED six-day remand of Mishra, which will be counted from Thursday. For Wednesday night, he would be sent into judicial custody,” said ED’s counsel BMP Singh, refusing to elaborate.
Mishra is a central committee member of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), besides being the assembly representative of CM Soren, who represents Barhait in the Jharkhand assembly.
On July 8, the federal agency had conducted raids on at least 19 locations linked to Mishra, including his premises in Sahibganj.
In a statement issued last Saturday, the ED had said it froze deposits worth ₹11.88 crore in 37 bank accounts belonging to Mishra and others, including Dahoo Yadav, who runs a ferry service in Sahibganj district.
Besides the seizure of money from these accounts, the ED had said it also recovered “unaccounted” cash worth ₹5.34 crore during the raids and alleged that these funds were linked to “illegal mining” in the state.
