V. NARADA
Ranchi, Feb 21: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has detained the chief engineer of Jharkhand Rural Development department Virendra Ram and one Alok Ranjan for questioning after the agency started a multi-location raid against him on Tuesday.
On Monday when the ED team made a surprise raid at the residence of Virendra Ram he was claimed to be enjoying tea with Alok Ranjan.
Interestingly, Alok Ranjan who is said to be a lawyer is the same person who was arrested by the Jharkhand Anti-Corruption Bureau in 2019 when the state agency raided the premises of a junior engineer of the department Suresh Prasad Verma in Jamshedpur and recovered cash Rs. 2.67 Crore. The said amount was recovered from the room of Alok Ranjan who claimed to be staying here as a tenant.
Notably, the ED carried out raids against Virendra Ram in connection with the recovery of a huge amount from his subordinate in 2019.
Well placed sources said that ED officials at first did not recognize Alok Ranjan and he pretended to be the servant. But his activity created suspicion. On this the ED officials questioned him rigorously he revealed his identity.
The ED during the raid detected huge disproportionate assets of the chief engineer.
Well placed sources said that so the ED has discovered as many as eight SUVs, six houses including four houses at Defense Colony in New Delhi which was over Rs 20 Crore, documents pertaining to investments, jewelry besides several incriminating documents have been recovered during the raid.
According to the information, raids are underway in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Patna, Delhi, Siwan, Haryana and other locations. Ram was at one of his duplexes at the Vasundhara Estate at about 9 am when the ED sleuths had begun the raid and he is still confined there.
