VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Dec 23: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s childhood friend turned foe Ravi Kejriwal has made a serious allegation that the political activities and campaigning of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) was powered by the proceeds of crime and the same was managed by Kolkata-based businessman Amit Agrawal under instruction of Hemant Soren.
He also claimed that Amit Agrawal’s relative Vinit Agarwal (resident of Ranchi) is one of the key persons who has collected funds on behalf of Hemant Soren. Such funds are accommodated in the bank accounts of several companies which are managed and controlled by Amit Agarwal.
The former family friend Ravi Kejriwal (42) remained the treasurer of the JMM till August 2020 when he was kicked out of the party. Ravi Kejriwal has made this claim before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) during investigation of the stone mining scam in Sahibganj.
The ED had arrested Amit Agrawal in the Cash for PIL case (now on bail) and the agency has also identified him as a key suspect of the illegal mining.
Ravi Kejriwal claimed that M/s Aurora Aviation and many other companies of Amit Agrawal were used for parking and laundering of proceeds of crime generated out of illegal mining and others. He claimed that the JMM hired helicopters from M/s Aurora Aviation and in doing so paper transactions were to accommodate cash.
The ED asked Ravi Kejriwal whether he was aware of any transaction that Amit Agarwal had with the JMM Party or with Chief Minister and JMM boss Hemant Soren.
In his reply, Ravi Kejriwal said that the transaction between the JMM and Amit Agrawal is evident in the books of accounts as well as bank statements of JMM and M/s Aurora Aviation. Ravi Kejriwal said that these transactions were done for hiring helicopters for the JMM party. “Many of these are paper transactions done only to accommodate cash. In such transactions, a huge amount is paid from the party fund to Aurora Aviation in cheque and the same amount is received in cash from Amit Agarwal. Such transactions run into crores of rupees,” he said. When the ED further questioned how he knew about such transactions and asked him to explain why such transactions were done. Ravi Kejriwal said that he was aware of such transactions in his capacity as the authorized signatory of the bank accounts of the party.
Ravi Kejriwal said that Amit Agarwal managed money, mostly obtained in cash from officers for transfer and posting, commission money form contractors of road, building, irrigation, mining, home, urban development etc. Ravi Kejriwal said that as a treasurer he used to sign cheques, put up by the office accountant for the transactions in the bank account of the party. His role was to work for the party as and when instructed by Hemant Soren and to provide assistance to candidates accordingly. He said that he used to run the day-to-day party activities as well as manage and look after the party funds and maintained the accounts of the receipts and expenses.
But he clarified that his role was not to arrange, or to organise the party funds. These matters were directly dealt with by Hemant Soren as the party chief with the help of one Calcutta-based businessman Amit Agarwal who runs several companies. Most of the time, fund related discussions took place in Kolkata or outside Ranchi.
