VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Dec. 21: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is understood to have stated that the advocate general of Jharkhand Rajiv Ranjan and Jharkhand Chief Minister’s media advisor Abhishek Prasad alias Pintu had plans to send a lawyer secretly to the ED office to meet Pankaj Mishra to know about questions asked during his interrogation in the police custody.
Pankaj Mishra who is the MLA representative of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED in the illegal stone mining case on July 19 this year.
The ED, in its report submitted to the Jharkhand High Court regarding the facts of the Barharwa toll plaza case has said so. The high court is scheduled to hear the case tomorrow.
The ED intercepted the phone calls of Abhishek Prasad alias Pintu. The ED said that in the said calls, Abhishek Prasad was trying to arrange a government advocate for Pankaj Mishra. Further, Abhishek Prasad also suggested to the Advocate General, to send a lawyer secretly to the office of the ED to meet Pankaj Mishra to know about the status of the investigation and questions being asked.
Accordingly, an advocate named Pradeep Chandra came to the ED office on July 23 and July 28. In another call, Pintu also advised Pankaj Mishra to get hospitalized.
The conversation between Pintu and the advocate general continued for around six minutes and the call was made around 6.26 PM. In the conversation Pintu asks the advocate general whether a government pleader can remain present there. To this AG asks the purpose.
On this, Pintu explains that the matter is related to Pankaj Mishra who is in custody and further asks as to who will go to meet him in custody.
“I arrange a lawyer who will go there daily to talk to him,” the AG says. Pintu further inquired whether a government pleader can go there as he wanted to know the rules. To this, the AG denies and says that rule doesn’t permit this.
Pintu further said that politics is his domain and he is very ignorant about the law. Then Pintu asks the AG to send a lawyer to meet Pankaj to gather information about interrogation and prepare a summary index as it would be helpful in future for an advocate to fight on behalf of Pankaj Mishra. During conversation, Pintu refers to a person named Rajesh Sinha who is a friend of Pankaj. It is further discussed whether Rajesh Sinha can go to meet Pankaj Mishra in the police custody.
The AG assured that he would arrange an advocate Pradeep alias Pintu who is from Ranchi civil court. The AG assures Pintu that Pradeep is a criminal lawyer and he is very reliable. He lives in Morabadi area. Pintu instructs the AG to ensure that Pradeep visits Pankaj Mishra at the ED office and at the lock up of the Kotwali police station to gather details of the investigation.
