Illegal mining case: Jharkhand CM's passbook, cheques seized after ED raid

In its prosecution complaint, equivalent to a charge sheet, filed before a special PMLA court here on September 16, the federal agency carried a recorded statement of former JMM treasurer Ravi Kejriwal, who reportedly said that it was in his presence that the chief minister directed Mishra to “directly hand over funds coming from Santhal Parganas from stone and sand mining businesses to Prem Prakash”.

A bank passbook and a signed and unsigned cheque book of Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren were recovered during raids from the residence of his close aide and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Pankaj Mishra, who is the prime accused in a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal mining in the state, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has said.

A bank passbook and a signed and unsigned cheque book of Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren were recovered during raids by ED. (PTI)

Mishra was arrested under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on July 19. He is currently in judicial custody.

Besides Mishra, his associates – Bacchu Yadav and Prem Prakash – have been named as accused in the case. The duo were arrested on August 4 and August 5, respectively, and are also in judicial custody.

The ED started its probe into the alleged money laundering case on March 8 on the basis of a first information report (FIR) in Sahibganj district against Mishra and others.

In its prosecution complaint, equivalent to a charge sheet, filed before a special PMLA court here on September 16, the federal agency carried a recorded statement of former JMM treasurer Ravi Kejriwal, who reportedly said that it was in his presence that the chief minister directed Mishra to “directly hand over funds coming from Santhal Parganas from stone and sand mining businesses to Prem Prakash”.

Two AK-47s, belonging to Jharkhand Police, were recovered from Prakash’s residence during raids in Ranchi on August 24.

Soren is currently facing an office of profit charge for allegedly granting himself a mining lease in 2021. The Election Commission of India (ECI) in August sent its opinion to governor Ramesh Bais on a plea to disqualify him. Despite the chief minister’s request, the poll watchdog has refused to make the opinion public.

While Soren’s secretary Vinay Choubey refused to comment, his media advisor Abhishek Prasad did not respond to HT’s calls and messages for a statement on ED’s charge sheet. JMM spokesperson Manoj Pandey said the party won’t comment on a sub-judice matter.

Among documents seized during ED raids in Mishra’s residence in Sahibganj district on July 8 was Soren’s bank passbook, according to the charge sheet.

“One sealed envelope containing a passbook and two cheque books containing two signed cheques bearing nos. 004718 & 004719 and 31 blanks cheques bearing nos. 005720 to 004750 all pertaining to A/C No 5932xxxxxxxxxxx in the name of Shri Hemant Soren held with Bank of India, Gangaprasad Branch, Sahibganj,” the charge sheet, a copy of which HT has seen, said.

The ED also provided a list of 43 witnesses, including Kejriwal, and their recorded statements to substantiate its charges against the above three accused.

Kejriwal was removed as treasurer after the party came to power in 2019 and was also suspended for six years in August 2020. It was not immediately clear as to why was he removed as the treasurer and suspended later.

During the course of investigation, it was revealed that Prakash was also involved in laundering proceeds of crime obtained out of illegal mining activities, the ED said.

“In his (Kejriwal) statement, he stated that while working as treasurer, JMM, one day, he was present in the office of chief minister, when the CM directed Pankaj Mishra to directly hand over the funds coming from Santhal Parganas from stone mining and sand mining business to Prem Prakash,” the prosecution complaint said.

“It was also discussed further that Prem Prakash will hand over the funds to Amit Agrawal. He also stated that Prem Prakash is very close to Hemant Soren and Amit Agrawal. He also stated that Pooja Singhal (IAS officer who was arrested by ED in connection with MNREGA fraud case) was given the additional charge of mining secretary, Jharkhand due to her proximity with Amit Agrawal,” it added.

Agrawal, a Kolkata-based businessman believed to be close to the JMM leadership, has also been questioned by the ED.

On March 8 this year, the ED recorded an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) based on an FIR registered against Mishra and others under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Barharwa police station in Sahibganj district on June 22.

The FIR was filed following a complaint of one Sambhu Nandan Kumar, who was allegedly not to participate in a tender for Barharwa toll in Barhait. Barhait is represented by Soren in Jharkhand assembly and Mishra is his designated assembly representative.

After around six months of investigation, the proceeds of crime in the illegal mining was found to be to the tune of over ₹1,000 crore, ED said. Mishra enjoys “political clout” and “controls” the illegal mining business in Sahibganj district, it said.

“PMLA investigation revealed that Pankaj Mishra, who enjoys political clout, being the representative of the Chief Minister, MLA from Barhait in Sahibganj district, Jharkhand, controls illegal mining businesses as well as inland ferry services in Sahibganj and its adjoining areas through his accomplices,” the agency had said in a statement on September 21.

“He (Mishra) exercises considerable control over the mining of stone chips and boulders as well as installation and operations of several crushers, set up across various mining sites in Sahibganj,” the agency added.

In order to substantiate the charge of Mishra’s clout, the ED charge sheet referred to an intercepted telephonic conversation between Mishra, from his personal number, with former Dumka commissioner Chandra Mohan Kashyap on June 2.

In his conversation, Mishra told Kashyap that he is operating all ferries in Jharkhand and insisted not to pursue reports of the Sahibganj district commissioner on an incident, the agency said.

Providing details of the incident, the ED claimed one inland vessel was operating illegally beyond hours, at night, when it met with an accident on March 25. Several trucks were drowned and loss of lives was reported. An enquiry report was prepared in the matter by the district administration, the agency said.

“It can be clearly understood that Shri Chandra Mohan Kashyap, the then Commissioner, Dumka, had raised certain queries in the report of the DC relating to operations of the vehicles, which was in knowledge of the accused Pankaj Mishra,” the charge sheet said.

“It can be clearly understood in the conversation that Pankaj Mishra was pressuring the Commissioner to accept the report of the DC, Sahibganj,” it said.

When confronted, Mishra accepted having the conversation with Kashyap, the ED said.

During the course of investigation, multiple searches were conducted at 47 locations across India over a span of period, resulting in seizure of cash amounting to ₹5.34 crore, freezing of bank balances worth ₹13.32 crore and seizure of an inland vessel MV Infralink-III from Sahibganj, besides five stone crushers, two trucks, two AK 47 assault rifles and incriminating documents, the federal agency said.

“Till date, the ED has identified proceeds of crime relating to illegal mining to the tune of more than ₹1,000 crore in this case,” the ED said, adding that proceeds of crime amounting to ₹42 crore “acquired” by Mishra were also identified.