LAGATAR24 NETWORK
Ranchi, March 14: Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Rajiv Arun Ekka has requested the Enforcement Directorate to postpone his questioning till March 24 as the assembly budget session is going on and he is highly preoccupied.
The ED had issued a notice to Ekka who is a 1994 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS and directed him to appear before the agency on Wednesday for his questioning in a money laundering case.
Sources in the agency confirmed the development and said that he has been called in connection with many incriminating documents and data recovered from the possession of power broker Vishal Choudhary during the May 2022 raid.
“A lot of incriminating documents were recovered besides electronic data from Vishal Choudhary that indicate some kind of wheeling and dealing in managing tenders and other government’s decisions. There are many private videos where Rajiv Arun Ekka is seen. Vishal Choudhary is connected with Rajiv Arun Ekka. This link has to be investigated. But he has sought some time till the budget session,” said well-placed sources.
Vishal Choudhary is a power broker and well-connected with several bureaucrats.
The ED is investigating an array of big-ticket money laundering cases in Jharkhand including the MNREGA scam, stone mining scam and tender scam. Ekka is the third serving IAS officer who has been summoned by the agency. In the MNREGA scam the ED arrested IAS Pooja Singhal whereas, in the stone mining scam, it questioned Sahibganj DC Ramniwas Yadav.
A week back former chief minister and BJP leader Babulal Marandi released a video of Ekka allegedly signing some government files at the residence of Vishal Choudhary. After the video became viral, the Chief Minister transferred Ekka as CM’s principal secretary and home and prison department secretary.
On Monday, Marandi also shot off a letter to the Chief Minister about alleged corruption in Jharkhand Police Housing Corporation and demanded the Chief Minister take action against Ekka, Vishal Choudhary and engineer Suresh Thakur.
Meanwhile, the Jharkhand government has formed a one-man commission under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court Vinod Kumar Gupta to investigate Ekka in the wake of that video.
The Department of Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Official Language issued a notification in this regard.
The notification mentions that Ekka is purportedly seen signing some official documents at a private place in the video. The above video clip has given rise to allegations of abuse of an official position by a public servant holding important positions. The state government considers this issue to be a matter of public importance. There should be a thorough, independent and fair investigation into this matter. Therefore, in the exercise of the powers vested under Section 3 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, a commission has been appointed under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court, Justice Vinod Kumar Gupta. After examining all the issues and allegations related to the case, the commission will report within six months.
