SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, June 7: Independent MLA Saryu Roy, said to be a crusader against corruption, has said that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigating the rural job and the mining scams is in a dilemma in Jharkhand.
“The ED sleuths, who are mostly from Delhi, might be knowing that they will have to investigate the role of Raghubar Das and the bureaucrats close to him too if they want to chase the money trail honestly,” he pointed out.
“Though I do not interact with the ED officials, it is possible that they might have been in a dilemma to probe the role of Radhubar Das or ex-chief secretary Rajbala Verma or not, as that would put the previous BJP government too in the dock,” he pointed out.
Roy, who vanquished Das in the last assembly elections, alleged that all the power brokers and bureaucrats who are under the scanner are ‘purane papi’ (old sinners) and were also active during the previous Raghubar Das regime and minted money.
Roy, who has penned several books on corruption during the Madhu Koda rule and Raghubar regime, said that the practice of minting money through corrupt practices was centralized when Raghubar Das and Rajbala Verma were at the helm of affairs. “But it was decentralized after Hemant Soren came into power. All the power brokers and corrupt bureaucrats, who were active during Raghubar Das regime were shifted lock stock and barrel after Hemant Soren came into power,” he alleged.
Citing the example of power broker Prem Prakash, he said that the former got the contracts from the social welfare department during the Das regime when Pooja Singhal was the secretary of this department. Prem also a crucial role in transfer-posting of IAS-IPS officers during the BJP regime, he added.
Prem Prakash is said to be thick-skinned and not revealing much about corruption. He is also said to have destroyed his old mobile phones. He is also said to have surrendered to the ED when the BJP leaders in Delhi and Jharkhand failed to assure him protection.
“I wonder why the ED is not arresting him and interrogating him under custody if he is proving to be a tough nut. Why is he not being booked for destroying evidence? I am sure he will spill the beans on Raghubar Das and Rajbala Verma too if he undergoes custodial interrogation,” Roy said.
The MLA further said that Pooja Singhal is under investigation for minting money in the rural job scam in 2008-10. “The money she earned through the rural job scam might have turned white or invested somewhere after the Modi government implemented the demonetization policy in 2016,” he said.
“But, she is alleged to have invested much of her ill-gotten wealth in Pulse hospital, which her husband Abhishek Jha bought in 2018 and made operational by 2020. So, all the ill-gotten wealth she invested in the hospital was earned during the Raghubar Das regime,” he alleged. “One can guess that Rs 19 crore and other investments found by the ED might have been earned during the Hemant Soren regime,” he pointed out.
Roy said that other bureaucrats, who are under the scanner and said to be worth Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore, have not amassed ill-gotten wealth during the last two years alone. They have been amassing the –ill-gotten wealth for years, he pointed out.
