The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has registered another case against Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren’s aide Pankaj Mishra, who is currently in jail in connection with an ongoing alleged illegal mining case being probed by the federal agency, people aware of the development said on Wednesday.
ED officials said a case lodged with Jirwabari police outpost in Sahebganj district last year has been taken over by the agency as a predicate offence to record the new enforcement case information report (ECIR) against Mishra and others.
“Searches were conducted in Sahebganj last year as part of the investigation into the illegal mining. Three trucks laden with stone chips were seized during raids as they were operating without legal mining challans. A case was registered by the administration against a few persons, which includes Pankaj Mishra and another mines operator Vishnu Yadav. We have lodged a new ECIR based on that FIR,” a senior ED official said.
This is the second ECIR that the federal agency has recorded in connection with their ongoing probe. The first was on March 8 last year.
Mishra, who is the assembly constituency representative of CM Hemant Soren, and two others, Prem Prakash and Bachu Yadav, were arrested last year. All three continue to be in judicial custody.
{{/usCountry}}Mishra, who is the assembly constituency representative of CM Hemant Soren, and two others, Prem Prakash and Bachu Yadav, were arrested last year. All three continue to be in judicial custody.
{{/usCountry}}ED had also questioned CM Soren on November 17 last year.
Meanwhile, Manoj Pandey, spokesperson of CM Soren’s party, the JMM, said their leaders are being targeted as part of conspiracy of the opposition.
“We don’t know about the fresh case. But it’s not surprising. We have been seeing misuse of central agencies against our top leaders regularly,” Pandey said.
In its first prosecution complaint (equivalent to charge sheet) filed before the special court in Ranchi in September last year, the ED had said it had identified proceeds of crime worth over ₹1,000 crore relating to illegal mining in Sahibganj district and its adjoining areas in Jharkhand.