VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Oct 8: The investigation of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is said to have revealed that as many as a dozen senior officials of Jharkhand government were in regular touch with Kolkata based businessman Amit Agrawal over phone and otherwise.
This has been disclosed following the analysis of Call Detail Record (CDR) of as many as four mobile phones used by Amit Agrawal to contact people. The agency is learnt to have accessed CDR starting from last year. The CDR shows frequent and prolonged talk-time with some numbers indicating these were not courtesy calls.
Notably, Amit Agrawal is considered close to the present UPA government in Jharkhand and it is said that during his Ranchi visit many officials used to pay him a visit. However, it is too early to guess the next move of the ED following CDR analysis that whether or not the agency will individually enquire from them to explain reasons of their closeness with Amit Agrawal. About Amit Agrawal the ED suspects that like Prem Prakash, he used his clout in the bureaucracy for ulterior motives of money laundering.
At least two senior cops from Jharkhand and two others from the Bengal police are under the scanner of the ED for allegedly extending undue favour to Amit Agrawal.
The ED arrested Amit Agrawal on Friday in Ranchi in cash for a PIL case where he is the complainant. The ED secured his seven days police remand effective from Sunday. On the basis of his complaint, Kolkata police arrested Jharkhand High Court advocate Rajiv Kumar on July 31st along with Rs 50 Lakh cash. Amit Agrawal claimed that Rajiv Kumar forced him to pay an extortion amount of Rs 10 Crore for not dragging his name as well as his company in a shell company related PIL.
Amit Agrawal said that Rajiv Kumar agreed for Rs one Crore and said that he has to pay money to officials of judiciary and ED. The ED smelled a sinister design to defame the ED and judiciary and decided to investigate this case as Kolkata police issued a summon to one of the officials of the ED Subodh Kumar who served as deputy director in Ranchi also.
The ED has already stated in its prosecution complaint that Amit Agrawal along with Prem Prakash laundered proceeds of crime out of the illegal mining in Jharkhand.
