VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Dec 12: The Hemant Soren government is claimed to have filed a writ in the Supreme Court challenging jurisdiction of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to review or supervise the investigation of a case done by the state police.
Jharkhand police DSP Pramod Kumar Mishra who on Monday skipped the ED in Barharwa toll plaza case claimed this and said that due to this reason he could not go to the ED.
“I got a notice from the ED and I was asked to turn up at 11 AM on today. I was ready to go when the information came that the state government had filed a SLP before the Supreme Court. Law and order are the state subjects. I am a state government employee so whatever comes it should come from the state government. After the ED issued the summons, the government filed a writ before the Supreme Court. I am also a deponent in this writ petition,” DSP Pramod Mishra said.
He further stated that he was ready to appear before the ED to assist the agency in the probe. “I will do it according to the order of the Supreme Court,” he said.
What Pramod Mishra is claiming, if it is true, then it may affect the investigation of the ED in the illegal stone mining case for the time being.
Barharwa toll plaza is the first and the foremost case which is the basis of the money laundering investigation. One Pakur based businessman Shambhu Nandan had lodged an FIR in June 2020 that state minister Alamgir Alam and Pankaj Mishra who is the MLA representative of Jharkhand Chief minister Hemant Soren threatened him over phone as he decided to participate in the tender. But when he refused and came to participate in the auction he was assaulted. He lodged an FIR against minister Pankaj Mishra and others at Barharwa police station of Sahibganj district.
Pramod Mishra as DSP of Barharwa completed supervision of the case within 24 hours after the FIR was lodged. He gave a clean chit to the minister and Pankaj Mishra without examining available digital evidence. Pankaj Mishra was arrested and charge-sheeted by the ED. But the agency discovered that the Sahibganj police was deliberately scuttling the probe.
Hence, it summoned Pramod Mishra to explain how he conducted the investigation. But he did not turn up before the ED. Nevertheless, the state DGP Niraj Kumar Sinha had also instructed him to appear before the ED for his questioning in the Barharwa toll case.
