VIJAY
Ranchi, March 1: Pankaj Mishra, an accused in the Rs. 1000 crore illegal stone mining case, being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), has filed a petition before the Jharkhand High Court to challenge an order of the Ranchi PMLA court.
Mishra, who is the MLA representative of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, had filed a prosecution complaint against ED Assistant Director cum investigating officer Deovrata Jha under section 147, 149, 341, 342, 323, 379, 504, 506, 120B of the IPC. He had accused Jha of suppressing facts of the case and implicated him on wrong premises.
But the special PMLA court of Prabhat Kumar Sharma on January 27 rejected his petition against Jha.
The PMLA court observed that Jha did not suppress any of the facts of this case and investigation is being done under provisions of the PMLA Act.
The ED is investigating the illegal mining case on the basis of the ECIR when the agency took up the Barharwa toll plaza case for investigation.
Also known as tender scam, the FIR was lodged by Pakur-based businessman Shambhu Nandan Kumar at the Barharwa Police station in June 2020 in Sahibganj district. He had named state minister Alamgir Alam and Pankaj Mishra among the accused of the case.
On June 20, 2020 an auction took place for collection of toll tax on Barharwa road. It is alleged that Alamgir Alam wanted the auction in favour of another company. Mishra allegedly made a call to Shambhu Nandan from the mobile phone of the minister and threatened him with dire consequences if he did not fall in line.
But as he refused to withdraw and somehow participated in the auction he was assaulted. Shambhu Nandan Kumar lodged an FIR at the Barharwa police station on June 21 against Alamgir Alam, Pankaj Mishra and others.
Pankaj Mishra claimed that the police dropped his name from the case as no evidence of his involvement was found. The chargesheet did not mention his name. The ED countered the allegation and said that it placed facts as mentioned in the FIR and said that the chargesheet was submitted. It never stated that the chargesheet mentioned the name of Pankaj Mishra. The ED stated that money laundering is a separate offence.
