RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Nov.30: The Jharkhand High Court today directed the CBI to probe into the ‘larger conspiracy’ allegedly hatched by Kolkata-based businessman Amit Agrawal to malign the Judiciary as well as the central investigating agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
A single bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi directed the CBI to register a preliminary enquiry (PE) within 15 days and place it before the CBI Director for further course of action.
The court’s order came while hearing Agrawal’s petition filed to challenge the ED’s action to arrest him in the ‘cash for PIL’ scam in which the Kolkata police had arrested Jharkhand High Court lawyer Rajiv Kumar with Rs 50 lakh on August 31.
The ED had arrested Agrawal in the first week of October for hatching a conspiracy to trap Rajiv Kumar, a lawyer representing a petitioner in two PILs filed against several high-ups including Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
He pleaded innocence saying he had been made a scapegoat as so far no illegality has surfaced taking his money.
Agrawal’s advocate Shahwaz Akhtar pleaded in the court that he had withdrawn money from his account through cheque. He had given prior information to the police. He has trapped someone involved in illegal work but he was considered as an accused.
The ED, however, vehemently protested Agrawal’s contention. ED counsel Amit Das argued that Agrawal had already figured in the Rs 1000 crore mining scam and the amount of Rs 50 lakh was part of the proceeds of crime.
Das stated that the trap was pre-planned to malign the Judiciary as well as the central investigating agencies. He pointed out that the Kolkata police had no prior information and had been informed on August 31, the day the lawyer was trapped.
The court observed that there is no need to interfere in the probe having been launched by the ED against Agrawal and ordered the CBI to unravel the larger conspiracy behind the trap incident.
Notably, Agrawal started his attempt to get bail from the court after he was arrested. He made the first attempt before the PMLA court but did not get any relief. He then approached the Jharkhand High Court on November 2.
The petition was heard on November 4. On that day no significant development took place and the high court deferred hearing till November 30 and asked the ED to file a reply. In the meantime, Agrawal knocked the door of the Supreme Court through a special leave petition (SLP) for relief.
On Nov 25, a division bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Sanjiv Khanna rejected the SLP saying that the court will not interfere as the matter is pending for hearing before the Jharkhand High Court.
