VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Aug 4: The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Bacchu Yadav on Thursday who was wanted by the agency in the illegal mining case. Sources said that he was picked up from Burdhwan Compound area of Ranchi where he had come to meet an advocate.
However, the ED has not confirmed his arrest or detention. But one of his close associates claimed that Bacchu Yadav was arrested from the Ranchi office of the ED where he had gone for questioning.
Meanwhile, the ED officials continued questioning of Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren’s media advisor Abhishek Prasad alias Pintu in the same case.
Bacchu is a close associate of Jharkhand CM’s MLA representative Pankaj Mishra besides Dahu Yadav. He was allegedly involved in illegal stone mining and transportation.
Dahu Yadav and Bacchu Yadav, the two key suspects of the money laundering did not turn up before the ED for their questioning. They were scheduled to re-join the probe today. But they avoided the third summon.
Dahu Yadav is out of the reach of the ED. He is said to have sent an email to ED to seek additional time to appear before the agency. Dahu in the e-mail has said that he is collecting some documents related to his case which he wants to produce before the ED to prove his innocence.
They were summoned by Sunil Yadav and Rahul who are brother and son of Dahu Yadav. They are the close associates of Pankaj Mishra. The ED had questioned Dahu Yadav and Bacchu Yadav from July 14 onward till July 18.
But on July 19 Dahu Yadav sent a representation to the ED through his lawyer Shashikant Jaiswal that his mother has suddenly fallen ill and he needs to rush to his hometown Sahibganj to take care of his mother. Bacchu Yadav on the other hand disappeared without informing anything to the ED. During questioning both of them are said to have made statements against Pankaj Mishra as kingpin.
During investigation the ED froze as many as 37 bank accounts belonging to Pankaj Mishra, Dahu Yadav and others that contained cash amounting to Rs 11.88 Crore. The ED also confiscated a cargo ship worth Rs 30 Crore operated by Dahu Yadav and Pankaj Mishra.
