LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Ranchi, April 11: The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday arrested Alok Ranjan in connection with the tender scam involving Jharkhand goverment’s chief engineer Virendra Ram who is alleged to be a mastermind of Rs 100 Crore scam.
Alok Ranjan is a close relative of Virendra Ram and he had allegedly laundered money earned through illegal means by Virendra Ram.
Notably, the ED in February had raided premises of Virendra Ram and arrested him.
The ED is investigating against Virendra Ram after a particular case of trap followed by a raid which the ACB had lodged against engineer Suresh Prasad Verma on November 13, 2019.
Cash to the tune of Rs 2.67 Crore was recovered from the room of Alok Ranjan who stayed on the premises of Suresh Prasad Verma. Alok Ranjan is the relative of Virendra Ram and the investigation established that the cash belonged to him and Alok Ranjan was only safe keeping this.
But despite this fact no preliminary enquiry/FIR was registered against Virendra Ram. It is learnt that the ACB had also sought a permission from the Jharkhand government to start an inquiry against him.
The ED took up this case in 2020 when it lodged an ECIR bearing No.ECIR/RNSZO/ 16/2020 in September 2020.
“There was a complaint against the said engineer Suresh Prasad Verma. His premise was raided and cash recovered from the very room where Alok Ranjan was staying. Suresh Verma and Alok Ranjan were prosecuted. Investigation established connection of the cash with Virendra Ram. But no action, no inquiry, no FIR against Virendra Ram. This needed to be investigated,” well-placed sources said.
Jharkhand was undergoing assembly election when ACB seized cash and lodged an FIR. Raghubar Das led BJP-Ajsu Party government lost the election and Hemant Soren leading JMM-Congress-RJD combine formed the government.
Virendra Ram originally belonged to the water resource department but he held the post of chief engineer of the rural development department also. The ED has sought details of tenders related to water resource department, rural development department and rural road construction which were executed by Virendra Ram.
