VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Dec 9: Sahibganj DSP Rajendra Dubey turned up before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday following a warning to arrest him for not cooperating with the probe. The agency communicated to him that it has sufficient evidence that he acted on instruction of Pankaj Mishra—accused of the illegal stone mining scam—to interfere in the investigation of the ED in the illegal mining case.
Based on his telephonic conversations with Pankaj Mishra from judicial custody, the ED summoned Rajendra Dubey for questioning and directed him to join the probe at the zonal office of the agency on December 8. But he did not turn up and the ED officials kept waiting for him.
He is among the two DSPs—the second one is the then Barharwa DSP Pramod Kumar Mishra—whom the ED summoned in connection with the illegal mining case. Pramod Kumar Mishra has been asked to come on December 12.
Reliable sources said that the agency sniffed that Rajendra Dubey under some unseen influences and pressures from some political high-up may turn defiant and refuse to cooperate. The ED is understood to have categorically communicated to the Sahibganj police that it issued summons to the DSP under the due process of the law as part of the investigation. The agency has sufficient evidence that he was in touch with Pankaj Mishra over phone and carried out his instructions. This includes tampering with evidence and terminating and harassing witnesses of the ED against Pankaj Mishra.
Pankaj Mishra while in judicial custody used to make phone calls to the DSP from RIMS. It has reliably been learnt that Pankaj Mishra gave directions to the DSP to identify and act against such persons who recorded their statement against him before the ED in the illegal stone mining scam.
Rajendra Dubey is among the officials of Sahibganj district administration who used to receive instructions from Pankaj Mishra over phone while the latter was lodged at the RIMS paying ward under judicial custody. Pankaj Mishra is the MLA representative of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and the ED arrested and charge sheeted him as a key accused of the Rs. 1000 crore illegal stone mining scam.
He is alleged to have initiated action against Prakash Chandra Yadav alias Mungeri Yadav and Ashok Yadav under provisions of Crime Control Act (CCA) under instruction of Pankaj Mishra. Mungeri Yadav’s son Ankush Yadav is a witness of the ED against Pankaj Mishra. Similarly, Ashok Yadav is a witness of the ED.
