RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Nov 25: The politics of Jharkhand and the ongoing investigation of the stone mining scam — now allegedly linked to Chief Minister Hemant Soren — may witness a major shift as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is set to expedite investigation with some concrete actions in the next two weeks.
It is believed that Chief Minister Hemant Soren may be served with a second summon anytime during the first week of December.
Businessman Vishal Choudhary was detained at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Thursday when he along with his wife Shweta Singh Chaudhary was trying to catch a Thailand-bound flight. They were detained by the security personnel based on a look out circular (LOC) issued by the ED against them. The ED was informed about their detention. The ED officials immediately reached and issued him a summon and asked him to appear before the agency on November 28.
Well-placed sources said that they have nothing specific against Vishal Choudhary as far as the MNREGA scam is concerned in which IAS officer Pooja Singhal was arrested. But considering the illegal stone mining scam as an organic case of corruption the agency doubts that more than one bureaucrat may be involved or had shares in the proceeds of crime.
A regular flier to the foreign countries Vishal Choudhary is intricately connected with several IAS officers who have been holding important posts in the previous as well as present government.
Interestingly, the ED that summoned the chief minister in the stone mining case and grilled him for around 10 hours has not summoned any of the bureaucrats so far.
But the dramatic failed bid of Vishal Choudhary to escape and the ED summoning him, must have left the bureaucratic circle ruffled.
He has special business interest in several state-sponsored sectors like health, skill development as well as excise, and prohibition and energy. In the year 2012, he set up ‘Vinayaka Fundamental Research and Education Society (VFRES) and soon became a partner of the Jharkhand Skill Development Mission and signed an MOU for skill development training and placement of 3000 youth of Jharkhand every year.
Earlier, the ED had raided his premises in Ranchi on May 24. He disappeared from the scene after the raid. During the raid Vishal Choudhary had thrown his mobile phone in the garbage which was later safely recovered by the ED officials.
He also looks after the affairs of Frontline Promoters Private Limited which was established on 25 May 2009. Registered at Registrar of Companies, Patna, his wife Shweta Singh Chaudhary and brother Triveni Chaudhary are among the directors. The registered address of the company is Damodarpur, P.S – Kanti in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar. Besides, there are several other companies like Vayam Info Security Services Private Limited, Vayam Info Solutions Private Limited, FGS Construction Private Limited and others that are linked to his family.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, he is said to have bagged the supply order of testing kits and others that were worth Crores. Some of the documents pertain to e-tender for empanelment of the placement agency of Jharkhand State Beverage Corporation Limited. Sources in the government familiar with his business interests claimed that during the regime of Raghubar Das when the state government changed the excise policy and took over liquor business, Vishal Choudhary had provided the manpower to run liquor shops.
