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PMLA case: Former Jharkhand minister Anosh Ekka sentenced to 7 years’ rigorous imprisonment
Ekka allegedly misused his official position and had amassed movable and immovable properties in his own name and that of his family members.
A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Ranchi, via video-conferencing, on Thursday sentenced former Jharkhand minister Anosh Ekka to seven-year imprisonment and also fined him ₹2 crore in connection with a money-laundering probe.
Ekka was Jharkhand’s minister of rural development between March 2005 and December 2008 during Madhu Koda’s tenure as the state’s chief minister.
Ekka allegedly misused his official position and had amassed movable and immovable properties in his own name and that of his family members.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had alleged that Ekka floated a construction firm, M/s Ekka Construction Company Pvt Ltd; after he became the minister and got it registered under his rural development ministry in a bid to turn his ill-gotten income into white money.
He allegedly purchased various plots in and around the state capital Ranchi, including a 28.29-acre plot worth ₹54.44 crore and also constructed a bungalow at an estimated cost of ₹2.57 crore.
Special Judge Anil Kumar Mishra of the PMLA court, who pronounced the quantum of punishment for Ekka, ordered the confiscation of his properties worth ₹22.38 crore, which was earlier attached by the ED.
“The attached properties, totaling Rs.22.38 crore, were also ordered to be confiscated under subsection (5) of section 8 of PMLA. The attached assets are in the form of movable and immovable assets consisting of residential properties, lands, fixed deposits, balances in bank accounts, national savings certificates, Kisan Vikas Patras, vehicles, rifles, and pistols, etc. These confiscated assets were held in the name of the accused, his family members, and companies owned by him and his family,” an ED press release stated on Thursday.
