LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Ranchi, March 13: Former Chief Minister of Jharkhand and senior BJP leader Babulal Marandi has alleged corruption in the Jharkhand Police Housing Corporation and demanded Chief Minister Hemant Soren to take action against senior IAS officer Rajiv Arun Ekka.
Marandi claimed that Ekka along with powerbroker Vishal Choudhary and engineer Suresh Thakur has committed a scam. He demanded the Chief Minister to lodge an FIR against Ekka and others. Marandi wrote a letter to the Jharkhand government in this regard.
Last week, Marandi had released a video clip of Ekka allegedly signing some government files at the residence of Vishal Choudhary.
Choudhary is a suspect of money laundering and the ED last year had raided his premises. After the video became viral, the Chief Minister transferred Ekka as CM’s principal secretary and secretary of the home and prison department.
In the letter, Marandi said that Vishal Choudhary having the backing of Ekka played the role of a middleman in managing and awarding tenders of the police housing corporation. Suresh Thakur after his retirement was reinstated at the post of Executive Engineer on a contractual basis for which procedure was followed.
When the contract expired on February 2 this year Thakur wrote a letter to Ekka requesting him to extend his contract and the same was approved by Ekka on the same day. “This shows their deep connection. As far as I know, for a contractual employee writing a letter to the secretary for extension and the same being approved by the secretary is a violation of law. No advertisement was published for hiring him on a contract. Vishal Choudhary played a role in this,” Marandi said in his letter.
Marandi claimed that Thakur allotted various work orders to a company Rolex Solution owned by Vishal Choudhary. But after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last year carried out raids, Thakur feared that he would be caught, he cancelled the contract of Rolex Solution and ordered to return the caution money of the company. But Thakur realized that he would be caught again and he reverted his order to return caution money to the company.
Marandi said this matter is related to a high-ranking official like the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of the state and the Principal Secretary of the Home Department.
“In such a situation, no one other than you can conduct an impartial inquiry into this matter. The officials who did the wrong work of returning the security money after canceling the contract, should be immediately removed from their posts and order to register an FIR against them,” said Marandi.
Ekka, however, denied the charges. “We followed a due procedure to hire Thakur,” he added.
