VIJAY
Ranchi, Feb. 28: After a lull of two months, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sent a fresh summons to the then DSP of Barharwa Pramod Mishra for his questioning in the Barharwa toll plaza auction case which the ED took up as part of its investigation into the illegal stone mining scam.
This is the third summons to Pramod Mishra and he has been asked to appear for questioning at the Ranchi zonal office of the agency on March 6.
The ED has also sent a notice to the Superintendent of the Birsa Munda Central Jail, Hamid Akthar, directing him to be present on March 7. Notably, both had filed a writ petition before the Jharkhand High Court challenging summons on different grounds. But the court
has not passed any order and their writ petitions are pending. On this ground, the ED decided to summon them as there is no legal hurdle in calling them for questioning in the absence of any specific direction of the court.
Notably, Vimal Kumar, the security in-charge of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren also skipped summons of the ED today as his questioning was required in the matter related to recovery of two police weapons from the residence of illegal mining accused Prem Prakash.
Third summons to Pramod Mishra
The illegal stone mining case to the tune of Rs 1000 crore originated out of the investigation of Barharwa toll plaza case. A Pakur-based businessman Shambhu Nandan had lodged an FIR in June 2020 against minister Jharkhand Alamgir Alam and Pankaj Mishra (Jharkhand CM’s MLA representative) for threatening and assaulting him as he refused to obey their order to withdraw from the tall plaza auction.
Pramod Mishra supervising the investigation gave a clean chit to the minister and Pankaj Mishra without any preliminary investigation and digital evidence. He gave the clean chit within 24 hours after the FIR was lodged.
This was disclosed during the questioning of investigating officer and Jharkhand police ASI Sarfuddin Khan by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Sarfuddin Khan also told the police that it was the decision of his seniors to drop the investigation against Pankaj Mishra and Alamgir Alam.
The Barharwa toll plaza case lodged in Sahibganj district, is among the cases which the ED is investigating during the course of the illegal stone mining scam. But it is the most important case since it is the basis of the ECIR of the agency in the illegal mining case.
The FIR at the Barharwa police station was lodged against Alamgir Alam, Pankaj Mishra and others under section 147 (rioting), 149 (member of the unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 379 (to commit theft), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 504 (Intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
The ED wanted to question Pramod Mishra about how he conducted the inquiry and gave a clean chit. Besides, the ED also wants to question him in connection with a viral audio clip where one Rajhansh Yadav of Sahibganj in conversation with a police official was talking about how cops and officials accumulated illegal properties through illegal mining.
The state government had objected to the summons and said that the law and order is a subject of the state and ED can’t examine an investigating officer about the modus operandi of investigation.
In December last year Jharkhand Home secretary also wrote a letter to the 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. The ED decided to abide by this. The Supreme Court rejected the SLP and asked the state government to approach the Jharkhand high court where the matter is pending.
Birsa Jail superintendent declined to share CCTV footage
The ED had demanded CCTV footage from the jail authority as it is highly suspected that money laundering accused in several cases had violated the jail manual. But despite the PMLA court’s order the jail authority declined to share the CCTV footage stating that it would breach security of the jail and privacy of prisoners.
