V NARADA
Ranchi, Feb 14: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued a summons to superintendent engineer of energy department Nathan Rajak besides Suraj Pandit and Chandan Pandit in the Rs 1000 crore illegal stone mining scam. Nathan Rajak had allegedly met illegal mining accused Pankaj Mishra at RIMS illegally when he was under custody of the ED.
However, Nathan Rajak denied that he ever met Pankaj Mishra. “I joined Deoghar in August last year. I never met Pankaj Mishra illegally in judicial custody. Somebody else apparently looking like me might have gone to meet Pankaj Mishra. This is a case of mistaken identity. I have not received any summons so far,” Nathan Rajak told Lagatar24 Network.
Nathan Rajak was earlier posted in Deoghar district and he is currently posted in Sahibganj district. Highly placed sources said when Pankaj Mishra was lodged at the RIMS paying ward under judicial custody in Ranchi, Nathan Rajak visited him illegally.
The agency summoned him on February 21 to explain why he illegally visited an undertrial of a money laundering case. Pankaj Mishra is the MLA representative of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and the ED arrested and charge-sheeted him as a key accused in the stone mining scam.
Suraj Pandit, on the other hand, is the personal attendant of Pankaj Mishra who used to provide his mobile phone to Pankaj Mishra during the custody to talk to different people. He has been summoned on February 22. Chandan has been been summoned on February 23. Notably, the ED has submitted evidence to the PMLA court that Pankaj Mishra unauthorizedly used mobile phones during judicial custody to influence the probe.
But Nathan Rajak visiting Pankaj Mishra sounded slightly unusual to the agency. Nathan Rajak is a native of Ranchi and his house is situated near the RIMS. Earlier he was posted at RIMS also. He was transferred to Deoghar sometime in the month of August last year. Well-placed sources said that he twice or thrice visited Pankaj Mishra.
Nathan Rajak was aware of the illegal mining probe by the ED as the agency had directed him to furnish details of the power consumption of several stone crusher units which are under the scanner of the illegal stone mining investigation.
EoM
