VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, June 8: The District Mining Officer of East Singhbhum, Sanjay Sharma, has sought time from the Enforcement Directorate to appear before the agency for questioning in the money laundering case.
More than a week ago, he was summoned by the ED along with the mining officer of other districts. Lagatar24.com could contact him a few days back to inquire whether or not he has appeared before the agency.
Sanjay Sharma vaguely replied that he was on leave when asked the reasons behind he reportedly failed to appear before the agency. He did not reply whether or not he had sought a fresh date to his convenience to join the probe against the secretary of his department, Pooja Singhal.
Well-placed sources have said the ED has not sent him the second summon. An expert having years of experience in dealing with PMLA cases said that the ED issues summon to any person with utmost care and only after verifying the material evidence.
“I have not seen any occasion when a summon was withdrawn or revoked. The agency calls any person for questioning as a witness or a suspect only if there are materials because issuing a summon involves complex legality. The ED can arrest a person on the charge of delaying the compliance of a notice. In investigative agencies like the ED, you have a limited chance to avoid any notice. I believe that like any other DMOs he must have been asked to furnish details of his properties,” the source said.
Sanjay Sharma was earlier posted in Hazaribagh, Dumka, and many other districts. He landed in a controversy when Dumka police recovered a substantial amount from his car under the Taljhari police station area. The then Dumka SP Vipul Shukla (June 2015-June 2016) got an intelligence input that he was carrying huge cash. However, later on, a businessman turned up to claim the cash and the same was released by the order of the court.
The ED during the investigation summoned several district mining department officials namely Bibhuti Kumar (Sahibganj), Krishna Kumar Kisku (Dumka), Pradeep Sah (Pakur), Nadeem Safi (Khunti), Gopal Kumar Das (Chatra), Nishant Abhishek (West Singhbhum), Sunny Kumar (Sarasiklea-Kharswan), Sanjeev Kumar (Ranchi) and Sanjay Sharma of East Singhbhum.
Except for Sanjay Sharma, all of them have appeared before the ED and recorded their statements. There is one thing common among them they were in touch with Suman Singh, the chartered accountant of Pooja Singhal.
