VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, June 10: The Deputy Commissioner of East Singhbhum, Vijaya Jadhav, has accused the district mining officer, Sanjay Sharma, of conniving with the mining mafia and issued a show-cause notice for not lodging an FIR against people involved in the illegal mining.
Sanjay Sharma was also summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for questioning, but he has not turned up so far.
The Deputy Commissioner has also accused him of not picking up phone calls from officials. As per the show-cause issued on June 8, the SDO of Dhalbhum carried a surprise inspection at Hata and Jadugoda. The SDO caught as many as 10 trucks illegally carrying stone chips and iron ore and ordered the DMO to lodge FIR against truckers.
But instead of lodging FIRs, the DMO directed truckers to submit documents related to transportation permits, dealer licenses, and stocks of minerals. “It shows your involvement in this matter as the SDO of Dhalbhum has repeatedly given the direction to lodge FIRs. You are not even picking up the phone. It shows that you are not serious about your duty and disobey your seniors,” the show-cause notice reads.
It should be noted that Sanjay Sharma is among the district mining officials who were summoned by the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in the money laundering case involving suspended IAS and mining department secretary Pooja Singhal. But he so far has not turned up.
Sanjay Sharma was earlier posted in Hazaribagh, Dumka, and many other districts. He landed in a controversy when Dumka police recovered a substantial amount from his car under the Taljhari police station area. The then Dumka SP Vipul Shukla (June 2015-June 2016) got an intelligence input that he was carrying huge cash. However, later on, a businessman turned up to claim the cash and the same was released by the order of the court.
The ED during the investigation summoned several district mining department officials namely Bibhuti Kumar (Sahibganj), Krishna Kumar Kisku (Dumka), Pradeep Sah (Pakur), Nadeem Safi (Khunti), Gopal Kumar Das (Chatra), Nishant Abhishek (West Singhbhum), Sunny Kumar (Sarasiklea-Kharswan), Sanjeev Kumar (Ranchi) and Sanjay Sharma of East Singhbhum.
