VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, June 23: BJP’s Godda MP Nishikant Dubey has claimed that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has taken cognizance of his letter where he demanded audit into the Jharkhand government allegedly hiring senior lawyers to defend Chief Minister Hemant Soren and others in private cases.
Nishikant Dubey posted the message on his twitter handle that CAG has taken a decision for the audit of payments made to the lawyers by the state government to defend Hemant Soren, his brother and other private persons in different cases.
“I received a message from the CAG today that the audit will be done in the light of my letter. The Jharkhand government is spending taxpayers’ money to protect people who are involved in corruption. There are two PILs related to corruption in which Hemant Soren is respondent. Besides, his office of profit case is being heard by the Election Commission of India. His brother and MLA Basant Soren is facing similar allegations. In all these cases the state has hired senior lawyers to defend him. Crores of rupees are being spent out of taxpayers’ monies,” Nishikant Dubey said.
Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday sent a letter to Girish Chandra Murmu in this regard.
He claimed that in the ongoing PILs and disqualification case before the Election Commission of India (ECI) private lawyers paid by the state are arguing or engaged by Hemant Soren and his associates. He said that the Jharkhand government hired the services of Kapil Sibel, Mukul Rohatgi and Pallavi Langar to defend Hemant Soren and others.
Nishikant Dubey said that Hemant Soren and others are private individuals and they are not the state government. He pointed that in the PIL 4290/2021 the allegation is that Hemant Soren and others parked unaccounted money in shell companies and the allegation is against Hemant Soren and not the CM of Jharkhand. Similarly, the PIL 727/2022, the allegation is against Hemant Soren as a private individual not as the state.
