VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Dec 15: The Jharkhand government has asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to summon its police officials for the purpose of questioning in the illegal mining case as the state government has filed an SLP before the Supreme Court challenging the jurisdiction of the ED in the Barharwa case.
State home secretary Rajiv Arun Ekka, in this regard, shot a letter to the ED via the office of Jharkhand DGP. A copy of the letter has also been furnished to Pramod Mishra.
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The letter has been written in the wake of ED summoning the former DSP of Barharwa in Sahibganj district in the Barharwa toll case. Pramod Mishra on Thursday skipped the second consecutive summon of the ED.
“I am to say that against the summon of the Enforcement Directorate…summoning Pramod Mishra Deputy SP Sahibganj and the issue of calling for and summoning police officials by the Enforcement Directorate being outside its preview and the same has been challenged by the state of Jharkhand in a writ petition in the honourable Supreme Court of India. The case has been registered as the State of Jharkhand and Others Vs Enforcement Directorate with diary number…filed on December 12, 2022, the letter accessed by this correspondent reads.
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“The above case has been mentioned for listening and it is expected to be taken up for hearing very soon. You are therefore requested to communicate this to the Enforcement Directorate requesting them in the meantime not to proceed further in the matter and also advise the concerned officer to await the outcome of the writ petition before the Supreme Court of India,” the letter reads.
Well-placed sources said that the state government made this communication in the wake of ED serving a second summon to Pramod Kumar Mishra to assist the probe as his questioning was required at the Barharwa toll plaza. This case lodged by Pakur-based businessman Shambhu Nandan Kumar at Barharwa police station and investigated by the Sahibganj police is one of the prime cases on which the illegal stone investigation is based.
The letter reveals the mood of the state government to fight with the ED tooth and nail as a threat is lurking on Chief Minister Hemant Soren and many other officials. The letter also indicates that the state government stands with its officials. In the meantime, the ED is taking legal consultations in this matter.
